My Little Pony: Eye of the Storm
by Guardian Kitch
Summary: Twilight Sparkle has been assigned her newest royal duties in the form of her very own student, a young stallion hiding a great mystery and a darker fate. Of course, as if this wasn't enough, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are at odds over feelings that've turned their lives inside out, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are egging it on, and two Time Lords are at war. The Storm Approaches.
1. Chapter I: The Approaching Storm

**Greetings, everypony! Now, you know the drill; Hasbro (not me) owns _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_. **

**Now, I know what you must be thinking: "A pony story, written by a dude, with no sexual themes and the characters all remain in pony form and not human form? WAKE ME UP, I MUST BE DREAMING!" However, before you read this story, there are a few things you need to know. First, this story, while it is _not _currently listed in the Crossover section, will be not only a _My Little Pony _fic, but will also be, in part, a _Doctor Who _fanfiction, with Doctor Whooves (The Tenth Doctor) and Roseluck (Rose Tyler) will be playing decently major parts in this story. Also, this story is centered not just around the Mane Six, but also my OC, a Time Lord Pony named Storm Ryder. **

**Also, I'd like to thank my very special somepony, my own little Applejack, who, through it all, has always had my back, the woman I will, one day very soon, be marrying. She's amazing, folks, and I hope she knows just how much I truly love. Lacey, my Applejack, this one's for you. **

**So, enjoy.**

* * *

**ADDITIONAL STORIES BY **GUARDIAN KITCH**:**

_**Complications**_

_**Star Wars: Jedi Wasteland**_

_**Gates of Terabithia**_

_**How Can I Help You To Say Goodbye?**_

_**Attack of Team Aqua**_

_**Always in Motion, The Future Is**_

* * *

_**Chapter I: The Approaching Storm**_

[**Location: **Princess Celestia's Royal Court, Canterlot]

"I'm sure it's nothing, Handles." The young, creamy-brown stallion mumbled hurriedly, sounding too much like he was trying to assure himself of that fact instead of the stuffed, plushy Cyberman to whom those words were actually directed. He paused, his pacing coming to a temporary halt as he stood frozen in his tracks, his neck slightly tilted as though he were listening to some invisible voice speak.

"_Of course_ it's nothing _major_, Handles, get ahold of yourself already." He dismissed quickly, looking down at the old, stuffed Cyberman who remained nestled safely in the satchel hanging from his neck. "I mean, how often does Princess Celestia summon me to her throne room, again? She keeps this up, I'll end up owing rent before my studies are complete—" He paused once more, acting as though he'd been cut off.

"No no no, Handles, that time Bones and me got caught sneaking into the Star Swirl the Bearded Museum of Pony Magical History doesn't count; we had a valid, legitimate reason for th—"

Another pause.

"I did _not _break in just to hug his stuffed body; good grief. We affected entry so that I could get my hooves on the scroll for what I believed would be his legendary Flow Walking Scrolls—"

Another pause that was immediately followed by what he heavily suspected was a sound of sniggering from his stuffed cohort.

"N-No, just because it was only a spell for his delicious blueberry muffins doesn't matter; it was still an official Storm Mission, and that's all that counts; obviously the princess knew that, or else she'd not have used her royal influence to smooth it over—and besides, that was almost a thousand moons ago."

He went silent as he listened to the latest response from Handles, a response that then led to a dismayed, annoyed neigh, a sound one would certainly never expect from one of the top students of Princess Celestia herself.

"Luna's necklace, Handles, you're insufferable. You know that? Why I bother to keep you around is beyond m—"

"Princess Celestia will see you now." The guard to the right of the door announced deeply, his voice booming as both guards' horns began to glow, the door following suit before swinging open directly in front of him.

"Then again," He added, his icy-blue eyes going wide as he stared into the throne room ahead. "Not for nothing, she's Princes of all of Equestria, has the whole world in her hooves; she _doesn't_ tend to summon ponies, even her students, just for a social visit."

"Princess Celestia will see you now." The guard repeated, the door remaining open as it beckoned him forward.

"Cowabunga." He muttered, trotting forward, the sound of his hooves clattering along against the pristine floor ringing in his ears as his black mane, littered with streaks of white, flowed out behind him.

Upon entering the throne room proper, he kept his focus on the beautiful princess sitting upon the throne directly ahead, ignoring all of the advisors, guests, and the army of guards spread throughout the expansive room. Whatever the reason for his being summoned before the ruler of Equestria, the towering, powerful mare under whom he studied thought it important enough to warrant a personal audience, and, his feelings (and thoughts) aside, he respected that urgency, for better or for worse.

"Princess Celestia, your highness." He greeted, offering the typical standard bow of respect and subservience as he reached his mentor. "I came as soon as I received your summons."

"Thank you for speed and diligence, Storm Ryder." The princess answered by way of greeting, placing her front right hoof gently on her pupil's shoulder, a signal he took as his permission to arise from his bow.

"Apologies, Princess: did I fail my latest test? I promise, I—"

"You've passed you all of your exams with perfect marks, my most eccentric student. As always, I am proud of your progress in your academic pursuits."

"Then, begging your pardon, I must confess that I don't understand, Princess Celestia. _If_ I'm not in trouble, a historical feat in and of itself, then _why _am I here?" He asked, a frown now occupying his sloped muzzle as he inquisitively spread his front hooves, as though to drive home his lack of understanding.

"You're here because it's time you enter a new phase of your education."

"A new phase of my education, huh?" He mused, looking down at the satchel around his neck. "See, Handles? And here you were, thinking I was in trouble again—"

"While you do have much left to learn, Storm, there is nothing more I can teach you here."

"I-Princesssaywhat?" He blurted, his brain delaying its comprehension of her words.

"Your academic success is inspiring to your fellow students, Storm, especially given…certain past events. However, you do have a lot left to learn, an education I am unable to provide for you."

The young stallion's mind found itself shutting down as he discovered he could not process this newfound information. Princess Celestia was widely accepted, almost in a unanimous fashion, as the greatest, wisest teacher in all of Equestria…and beyond. Immediately, his ears drooped as he realized what such a confession must mean.

"I-I—"

"As such, I've decided to assign you a new teacher, somepony who will be capable of imparting to you the lessons you've left to master."

"I—hang on; a _new _teacher?"

"Is there—is there something wrong with that, Storm?"

"With all due respect, your highness, yes, something _is _wrong. First, I don't want to learn from just anypony, Princess; I signed up specifically to learn from the best, to study under _you. _Second, who, in the name of Nightmare Moon, could _possibly_ teach me what _you _could not?!"

Of all the possible reactions he could possibly have predicted from the Princess, laughter was _not _anywhere on that list.

"I—yeah, Princess, you've officially lost me."

"While I appreciate your faith in my wisdom and knowledge and your fealty to me in particular," She continued, quickly and effortlessly collecting herself. "I am not infallible, nor am I omnipotent _or _all-knowing."

He gave a quick snort-like neigh, a clear sign that he didn't believe her. "That's a good one, Princess. Hey, since we're doing jokes, I got one for you: a Manticore, a Dragon, and a Hippogriff all walk into a bar—"

"I'm being serious, Storm." She said, her voice temporarily adopting such a strict, stern tone that he immediately froze, the old joke dissipating instantly from his mind.

"A thousand apologies, Princess. I await your instructions, my liege."

"Storm, you may think I haven't noticed it, but I have."

"Princess?"

"For the past year, you've completely changed; gone is that intrepid, determined, fierce unicorn that shadowed my every movement until I took him by the hooves and agreed to instruct him. It's as though you're somepony else entirely, Storm."

Both his hearts jumped into his throat as his entire body froze. He'd assumed she'd noticed some minor changes in him, there was no way around that, but if she was saying this, then she'd caught on far better than he had ever imagined, more so than any of his worst-case scenarios could have predicted…and then another, much more terrifying thought entered his brain, then, drowning out anything else that might divide his complete and utter attention.

Did she know? Did she, the greatest being in all of Equestria, know his single deepest secret, the key that unlocked the very essence of who he was? If she knew _that_, if she knew what he really was, where his heritage came from, why he was so uncommonly good at mastering new and advanced magic, almost without study—

"Storm, in only a year, you've abandoned all of the few friends you had here in Canterlot, letting them move on without so much as a word farewell, you rarely come out of your quarters, even to eat and drink, and when you _do_ come out it's only to go to the libraries or the museums."

"I—"

"I truly appreciate your dedication to your academics, Storm; only one or two of my students have ever shown that level of service and determination to succeed. However, if I permit you to continue on the path down which you now trot, I would be failing you, both as your princess and as your teacher. In the coming days and moons, you will be tested as never before, and the knowledge you'll need to survive and overcome those challenges cannot be found in the texts of a book or the study of artifacts."

"I—I understand—"

"No you don't." Princess Celestia corrected kindly, placing a hoof under his muzzle to lift it up so that he was once more looking her in the eyes. "But, in time, you will."

"Wh—what is it you would have of me, your highness?" He asked himself, steeling him for the words to come.

"I have arranged for you to leave on the train tomorrow evening, for Ponyville."

"_Ponyville?_" He asked, flabbergasted by her words. "He'd expected Manehattan, or Los Pegasus, or perhaps Maretropolis, or even the Crystal Empire, but…_Ponyville_?!

"Yes, Storm, Ponyville—"

"But…hang on; that means that my new mentor—my new mentor would be—"

"The Alicorn Princess, Twilight Sparkle."

* * *

[**Location: **Ponyville]

"Thanks again, Twilight." The young, yellow Pegasus said meekly, her voice, as per usual, barely more than a whisper. "I do appreciate you letting me borrow this book; all of my bears are acting weird and I just don't know why."

"Oh, it's no problem, Fluttershy." Twilight Sparkle responded happily, her violet eyes twinkling merrily. "I'm always happy to share my knowledge with anypony in need. Would you perhaps like a helping hoof with your animals too?"

"Ummm…" The shy little pony paused momentarily, as though searching frantically for words that would let her provide the proper answer without hurting her friend's feelings. "I'm really sorry, Twilight, but I don't know that that's such a good idea right now…maybe…I think."

"Huh?"

"It's nothing against you, Twilight, I promise." She added quickly, desperate not to offend her friend. "It's just that—"

"Hey, Twilight?" A new voice suddenly cut in, attempting to force its way into the conversation.

"Not now, Spike." The purple-skinned Alicorn dismissed in a distracted tone. "It's just what, Fluttershy?"

"Well…ummm…it's just that the bears are becoming angry and frustrated, especially Mrs. Softclaw, who has three cubs to take care of now."

"Mrs. _Softclaw_?" Twilight asked unbelievingly, her eyes and muzzle now adopting a more inquisitive, suspicious look. "You named a bear Mrs. _Softclaw_?"

"Oh yes." The timid pony explained. "She's usually such a sweet, caring momma bear, but here lately she's not been herself; I can't even fly near her without having her attack me; that's why I'm so worried; I want to help her and all of my bear friends with whatever's wrong with them, but I don't want to risk my best friend either."

"Twilight—"

"I said not now, Spike." Twilight repeated, irritation now cracking through the surface of her voice. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do, Fluttershy?" The young princess asked, holding out hope that Fluttershy might have something she could help with after all. Of course, she didn't explain to the yellow, winged pony that the reason she was offering to be so helpful was that, by a pure streak of dumb, blind luck, she'd failed to schedule anything to do for two _whole_ hours and so was now stuck in limbo for those double hours with literally nothing to do.

"I really am sorry, Twilight, but I think that…ummm…m-maybe it's best if I handle this alone, just to be safe."

"I-"

"Oh come _on, _Twilight, listen to m—"

"Spike, I told you not now!" Twilight responded, at last losing her cool as she turned towards her assistant. "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to interrupt somepony when she's talking t—"

"Now, now Twilight." Fluttershy whispered, immediately regaining her friend's attention. "There's no need to yell at Spike; he's just trying to be helpful is all."

"I understand that." Twilight countered. "But that's no excuse to interrupt—"

"Well, if you'd listen to me, _mom_, I'm only trying to interrupt you so that you'll know Princess Celestia's outside."

"That's well and all Spike, bu—" Twilight stopped speaking suddenly, turning her frozen, horrified stare first to Spike and then to Fluttershy.

"Ummm…Twilight?" Spike asked, jumping down to the floor and making his way to his friend's side. "Are you okay?"

"Are you sure?"

"Huh?"

"Are you sure, Spike? Are you _sure _it's Princess Celestia?"

"Not at all." The young dragon answered sarcastically, running back over to the window to peer back out it. "I mean, there are so many ponies in Equestria who look just like her, it's hard to tell which one's the _real _Princess Celestia."

"Oh no, Oh no oh no no. "Twilight stammered rapidly, as though she might be about to enter a frantic and irreversible meltdown. "The library—she can't see it like this."

"Like _what_?" Spike asked, sounding slightly indignant as he spanned his arms and claws out to encompass the tree library around them. "We just spent _six _hours cleaning this place up from top to bottom."

"Get it right, Spike; it was five hours and forty-seven minutes." The young mare corrected automatically. "I had to deduct the thirteen minutes it took us to create the checklist, even though I miscalculated how much time we needed, allowing us for—"

"Two whole hours in which we have nothing to do." Spike finished for her with a sigh, almost as though he'd rehearsed the entire thing. "But come on, Twilight, don't you think that you may be overreacting, just a _little_?"

"Overreacting?!" Twilight Sparkle nearly exploded at the youthful fire-breather's latest comments. "_OVERREACTING?! _Spike, this is Princess Celestia we're talking about, the ruler of Equestria; she has, literally, our whole world in her hooves. She doesn't visit out of the blue just for a social call—"

"Luna forbid she ever have a social life." Spike muttered, now moving towards the door so that he could welcome their royal visitor.

"And besides," Twilight added, pressing forward as though she'd not heard his sarcastic interruption. "I'm a Princess now; I have to prove that I'm as responsible and organized as is expected of a Princess pony: if not—"

"What, they gonna take your birthday away?" Spike sniggered, receiving a well-earned glare from his guardian.

"Worse." She ejaculated angrily. "I'll be sent to—" She gasped, as though adding in dramatic effect, something one might expect from Rarity, rather than from the usually-collected Twilight. "PRINCESS KINDERGARTEN!"

"Twilight, can't you just relax?" Spike asked in a now-exasperated voice, as though he were an exhausted parent trying to explain some simple, and yet incomprehensible, piece of information to an unruly child. "The library's in better shape than it's ever been."

"Ummm…I think maybe ummm…I think Spike's right." Fluttershy offered, at last coming to the younger male's aid. "And even if he wasn't, Twilight, I'm sure the Princess wouldn't mind a little mess; she was once a young princess too, after all."

"Okay." She responded with a heavy sigh that was akin to the sound one might make upon surrendering a hotly-contested battle. "Maybe you're right—"

"Your Highness." Spike greeted as the library's door opened. Immediately, all thought and emotion driven clear of her mind, she spun around and joined her two friends in lowering herself onto her front hooves and into the bow reserved only for royalty.

"No need for that, my most faithful student." Celestia greeted warmly as she entered the building. "You're a princess now, Twilight Sparkle."

"Sorry." The younger mare answered hurriedly, pulling herself up properly once more, remember the last number of times Celestia had reminded her of that fact. "Old habits—"

"I understand." Celestia revealed kindly, cutting off the needless apology before it could be completed. "I was once a new and growing princess too."

"Princess, I'm confused." The violet pony confessed, looking up at her mentor. "Has something happened?"

"Why Twilight, whatever do you mean?"

"Well—I—ummm—" She stammered, suddenly unable to think of how to put her thoughts into words, or at least, put them into words that wouldn't offend or insult her mentor, or else make her seem silly and childish.

"Oh…umm…excuse me, Princess Celestia." Fluttershy added, yet again coming to a friend's aid. "I think…ummm…perhaps what Twilight means is that usually you're so busy in Canterlot that when you need Twilight to do something, you send her a letter, so perhaps…ummm…maybe Twilight's afraid something bad has happened, or-oh I'm terribly sorry for speaking out of turn, your highness—"

"No apologies needed, Fluttershy." Celestia answered, the smile still on her face. "Rest assured, everypony, that nothing bad has happened; in fact, it's just the opposite."

"Wait…so something _good's_ happened?" Spike asked, jumping up to take a seat on Twilight's back.

"Indeed, it has. Twilight, I'm here because it's time for you to advance to the next stage of your education."

"The next stage?" Spike asked with a slight frown.

"Of my education?" Twilight added, her mind reeling with the hundreds of different implications this might be implying.

"Yes." She explained. "A wise mare once taught me that our education does not truly begin until we travel down the road of passing on what we have learned, what we know, to other ponies."

"You mean—"

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student, Equestria's newest princess; I am decreeing that you shall now take on your own student."

"You want me to be a _TEACHER?!" _Twilight exploded, her heart now racing impossibly fast inside of her as she began gasping for breath. Celestia, in turn, nodded her head.

"I think you will find that having your own pony student to instruct in guide will teach you more than you could ever have imagined and push you to even new heights—"

"YAY!" A hyperactive voice interjected, booming with such intensity that, for the briefest of moments, Twilight had felt as though the entire planet had shattered in a fiery explosion. As confetti, streamers, and balloons began raining heavily from above, littering the once-pristine library, however, the mare realized that the explosion had, in fact, come not from Equestria itself, but rather from the flamboyant, hyper-active Pinkie Pie, who had appeared, quite literally, out of thin air, causing Twilight to once again suspect that maybe the young, pink-skinned Earth Pony had some magical powers of her own that she was keeping secret from everypony.

"Hey Fluttershy; TWILIGHT'S GOING TO BE A TEACHER!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed excitedly, her face mere inches from that of her timid friend's. "You know what that means, right?"

"Ummm—"

"IT'S TIME FOR—"

Immediately, however, Pinkie Pie went silent as Twilight, who was now mortified that Princess Celestia might be offended by her allowing a royal visit to fall out of control, had stuffed a hoof into the pink mare's mouth to silence her.

"Pinkie Pie." Twilight warned simply, her face reddening as she turned back to face her fellow Princess. "Apologies, Princess Celestia. Please, continue."

Looking rather amused, possibly by the fact that Pinkie Pie now appeared to slowly inflating herself, perhaps due to the fact that her excitement (and perhaps a small amount of hot air) suddenly had no means of escaping her body, Princess Celestia proceeded to explain the situation to her student.

"In the time since you first came to Ponyville, Twilight, you have proven that not only are you capable of doing anything to which you put your mind, but that you're an amazing, natural-born leader, and that, in your hooves, Equestria has never been safer.

"I do not assign students to just anypony, Twilight, for teaching and guiding somepony down the paths of knowledge and life is not for the faint of heart or the weak of mind."

"I-I don't know what say Princess." Twilight breathed, her hoof still firmly and fully in the still-inflating Pinkie Pie's mouth. "I'm—I'm honored. I'm afraid, though, that I'm not ready. But—" She added quickly, ignoring the muted sounds trying to escape the closed pony to whom Twilight was connected. "If you really think I'm ready, then I accept."

"I have the utmost faith in you, Twilight Sparkle." Celestia revealed.

"Then what do I do?"

"He will be arriving in Ponyville tomorrow afternoon." The Pony Princess revealed. "I've arranged for him to stay in the Ponyville Museum of Equestrian History."

"He?"

"The _Museum_?" Fluttershy asked simultaneously, the color rapidly draining from her face. "Oh my—isn't the museum supposed to be haunted—"

"Nonsense, Fluttershy." Twilight answered dismissively. "There's no such thing as ghosts."

"But what about the—"

"That's just an old mare's tale." She again dismissed with a wave of her free hoof. "Who is he, Princess?"

"His name is Storm Ryder. He is an intelligent stallion, Twilight, not much unlike yourself. Yet, he lacks friends, and knows not the value of the magic of friendship. Remind you of anypony?"

At this, Pinkie Pie could no longer maintain the excitement within her. With it all unable to escape, she at last jetted backwards, away from Twilight as she flew and whizzed around the library, exactly like a balloon that had just had its store of air released. Twilight visibly cringed as she crashed into shelf after shelf after table, sending parchment, quills, and books scattering in all eight directions.

"THIS IS SO SUPER-DUPER AMAZINGLY FANTASTICALLY AWESOMELY WONDERFUL!" Pinkie Pie roared, deafening the room's four other occupants. "WE HAVE SOMEPONY NEW TO MEET!"

"Ummm…I don't know if that a good thing." Fluttershy muttered. "I—"

"A GOOD THING?! OF _COURSE _IT'S NOT A GOOD THING: IT'S A _GREAT_ THING!" Pinkie Pie continued, uncontainable once more as she temporarily calmed down, speaking at a more normalized level once more.

"I'm sorry; I just don't like meeting new ponies; it scares me."

"Fluttershy," Spike laughed. "_Everything _scares y—"

"WHAT?!" Pinkie asked, now sounding downright scandalized by Fluttershy's revelation. "But meeting new ponies is the best, because new ponies are so much fun: you know absolutely nothing about them, so they could be anything."

"Pinkie Pie is right, Fluttershy." Celestia reinforced kindly, almost motherly. "It can be scary, but meeting new ponies is one of the ways we learn and gr—"

"Oooooh, this is SO EXCITING! He could be anything, Fluttershy. He could be a doctor, or a five-pony chef, or a spy, or a professional party planner, or even—OREVENANALIENTIMERAVERBORNASAFOALTOPARENTSWHOGOTRAPPEDINEQUESTRIAFROMANOTHERALTERNAEDIMENSIONLIKEWHENYOUWENTAFTERSUNSETSHIMMERWHENSHESTOLEYOURCROWN! THIS IS _SO_ SUPER-DUPER AMAZINGLY AWESOME!" Pinkie finished, now opening her mouth as she at least began gulping in fresh oxygen, every other pony now staring at her, mouths gaped wide open, visibly lost.

"Huh?" Twilight asked, echoing that very feeling. The answer, then, in what was perhaps the greatest surprise of the night, came not from Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, or even Spike, but rather, from Princess Celestia herself.

"Or even an alien time traveler born as a foal to parents who go trapped in Equestria from another alternate dimension like when you went after Sunset Shimmer when she stole your crown."

"How—"

"Yeah, Pinkie Pie, I'm sure that's _not _who he is." Spike interjected, dismissing the mare's outlandish theory.

"Now Spike, just because somepony's idea is out there and sounds impossible doesn't mean you should just discount it." Celestia scolded kindly, turning her attention to the baby dragon her most faithful of students had hatched.

Before Spike could respond, however, Pinkie Pie gasped once more, giving the room a two nanosecond warning that she was about to lose it once more.

"YOU KNOW WHAT THIS CALLS FOR?!"

"A party?" Spike offered, as though he somehow already knew the answer.

"YES!" Pinkie answered happily. "But not just any party; this calls for a "TWILIGHT'S-A-TEACHER-AND-WELCOME-TO-PONYVILLE-AND-YOUR-NEW-FRIENDS-FOR-SOMEPONY-NEW-NAMED-STORM-RYDER-PARTY! THIS IS GOING TO BE MY BEST PARTY _EVER_!"

"Oh dear." Fluttershy muttered. "Are you sure about that, Pinkie Pie?"

"Ponyville will never be the same." Spike muttered, as though he might be foreshadowing what fate might well have in store for their coming future.

"Don't worry, Princess Celestia; I _won't _let you down, and I _won't _let Pinkie's biggest party ever destroy Ponyville."

* * *

[**Location: **Sweet Apple Acres]

_CRACK! _The tall, leafy tree shuddered helplessly as its collected crop of crimson apples fell free of its branches, landing safely in the cart feet below. Taking pride in her hard work, the hard-working gold-skinned pony named Applejack wiped her brow free of sweat before repeating the process with the next tree in line, satisfied as its crop fell free as well. Applebuck Season was in full swing once more, and, along with the rest of the Apple clan, Applejack was hard at work collecting the annual harvest of fruit for which her family and their steading was named, determined to make enough of a profit that they could survive the coming harshness that was the winter months.

Unbeknownst to Applejack, though, she was far from alone in this far-flung section of her family's apple orchards. Even as her strong, durable hind legs wiped yet another tree clear of is fruit, a cyan Pegasus sat high above, watching her every move as she slowly drifted her dark cloud into position, a mischievous smile etched across her muzzle.

"Oh man, this is going to be _so _awesome." Rainbow Dash muttered to herself with a laugh, the cloud now hanging directly over the pony below. "AJ's never gonna see this one coming." She finished, scanning around quickly to make sure there was nopony nearby to ruin the surprise before she could put her plan into motion.

Of course, the newest member of the newly-minted Wonderbolts Reserve also knew that she had to time her move just perfectly; if she did it as Applejack was bucking a tree, the noise would cancel out Dash's storm effect and thus her prank would fail. However, she also had to refrain from moving too soon, or Applejack would see it coming, and, again, her newest prank idea would meet with failure, and, while Rainbow Dash could claim a long line of titles and adjectives, failure was not among them. After all, she was Rainbow Dash, twenty-percent cooler than anypony else in all of Ponyville.

And then her opening came quite suddenly as, once more, Applejack paused to fix her hat upon her head and free her face of the perspiration she'd worked up. Seizing her opportunity, Rainbow Dash jumped off of the cloud, came into a hovering position, and drew back her hind legs, like a powerful bow getting ready to let fire its deadly projectile.

And then, for some unknown reason, fate decided to interject itself. A mere, split second before Rainbow Dash fired, too late for her to stop herself, a scream-like neigh of agonizing pain rent the air around them, causing Applejack to look up in concern. Even as the golden mare's head was coming up, however, Dash's light blue legs had made contact with cloud, too spread out and uncontrolled, thanks to the distraction of Big Macintosh's unintentional bellow of grief. Bolts of lightning lashed out in various directions, rather than the downwards position she had planned. One of these bolts, perhaps as though it might be seeking some form of retribution against the meteorological pony, caught the stunned Pegasus under her wing, grazing the section of skin, fur, and feathers where her torso and right wing met. Jolted by her surprise failure and besieged by the pain in her stricken wing, a now-screaming Rainbow Dash fell from the air, crashing, tail-first, through a pair of old, gnarled Apple Trees and onto the cold earth below.

"Dag-Nab it, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack shouted, charging forward to check on her injured friend. "Now why'd ya have ta go 'n do that fer? Can't yeh see Ah'm workin' here?"

"Sorry, AJ." The wounded Pegasus moaned weakly, fighting to pull herself up from the crumpled pile of pony she'd become. "Hang on-_please _tell me you didn't see that."

"'Fraid so, Sugarcube." AJ revealed with a slight chuckle, causing her stricken friend to grimace as her face began to blush violently.

"Now don't go getting' like that with me, Rainbow Dash." Applejack reprimanded firmly. "I reckon everypony messes up every once in a while."

"Yeah, well, good, because—because I didn't mess up this time."

"Uh-huh." The farming pony responded with another laugh as Dash pulled herself up to her hooves.

"What? I didn't."

"'Course yeh did."

"No, I did _not_." Rainbow Dash angrily countered. "I had everything under control until that brother of yours scared the wind out of me."

"Hehehe." AJ laughed once more. "Still, I reckon yeh got exactly what yeh deserved, what with yeh tryin' ta scare the heebee-jeebies out o' me while Ah'm workin' meh tail off."

"But it was going to be _soooooo _funny—"

"Yer right, Dash; it _was _pretty funny."

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that!" Rainbow Dash responded, stretching her wings and jumping into the air as she made to exit the current conversation. With a yelp of surprised pain, however, the young Pegasus instead collapsed back to the ground, her wing bent in agony.

"Yeh okay, Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked, her voice softening considerably as she made to check on her injured friend.

"Of course I'm okay, I'm Rainbow Dash—"

"Yeah? Well let me be the judge o' that, _Rainbow Dash_." Applejack responded firmly, helping her friend back up off of the ground. "Come here an' let me take a closer look at that there wing."

"Come on, Applejack, it's nothing, really—"

"Sure don't look like nothin'." Applejack countered, studying the wound carefully as she continued ignoring her best friend's objection. "Hmmm…yep, I reckon so. Hmmm…" She trailed off thoughtfully for several moments. Just as Rainbow Dash had begun to form her next sentence, then, the Earth Pony reared back, opened her muzzle, and launched a large, dripping ball of saliva onto the wound.

"ARAGH!" Rainbow Dash screamed with enough intensity that it nearly drove them both deaf. "What was _that _for?"

"Just like Ah suspected."

"Huh?"

"That bolt of lightnin' that hit yeh hurt yer wing."

"WHAT?! NOOOOOOO! THIS IS THE WORST THING EV—"

"No need ta be a drama queen." AJ interjected instantly. "That's Rarity's job, remember?"

"But if I can't fly—"

"Yeh'll be fine, Sugarcube." Applejack assured the Pegasus. "Come on, let meh wrap it up an' in a few hours yeh'll be good as new. Now, let's get yer wing taken care of."

With Rainbow Dash following right behind her, Applejack trotted back to where, moments previously, she'd been hard at work. As the pony with the rainbow mane made to lie down next to the apple-laden cart, Applejack opened up a discarded saddle bag, retrieving a large box with a hoof-drawn red cross on the top.

"What—"

"Homemade medical kit." Applejack answered simply after tossing the metal box onto the ground in front of her friend. "Granny Smith is on us like red on an apple ta make sure we keep one near us at all times; reckon it's come right in handy a few times."

Still muttering to herself, Applejack expertly dug through the contents of the box until she reached the very bottom of the thing, at which point she then proceeded to withdraw a small tub of pale pink cream.

"Whoa now, hang on, what—"

"It's herbal burn cream." Applejack explained, rubbing some onto her right hoof. "Granny Smith's own secret recipe; says she reckons it's about as ancient as she is. Now, just hold still."

"Wh-ooooohhhhh." Rainbow Dash finished with a heavy, relieved sigh. "That feels good, AJ."

"Give 'er credit, Dash; Granny Smith knows her stuff."

"I'll say." Rainbow Dash muttered a few minutes later, her eyes closed as her friend began to wrap the injured wing with bandages.

"Well, there yeh are." AJ said at last, stepping back now so that she could admire her handiwork. "Maybe that'll teach yeh to sneak up on somepony an' try 'n scare 'em while they're workin'."

"Yeah yeah, I hear ya." Rainbow Dash muttered, climbing back up as a clap of thunder exploded in the difference.

"What in tarnation-Rainbow Dash, I thought you weather ponies were supposed to keep the skies clear fer the next week so we could finish our harvest."

"Hey, don't blame me, Farmer Jack." Dash countered. "It's not _my_ fault."

"Never is, is it?"

"Nope. Derpy probably fell asleep on the job again and forgot she's on cloud clearing—"

"Ain't that just like yeh, Rainbow Dash, ta blame somepony else fer yer bein' lazy?"

"I am _not _lazy!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too and yeh know it!"

"I'm the least lazy pony in all of Equestria!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Then prove it."

"How?! I can't fly, _remember_?"

"Heh…yeh don't need them wings o' yers ta buck apples."

"To…huh?"

"What's the matter, Rainbow Dash; yeh 'fraid ta get yer hooves dirty?"

"You kidding? I'm Rainbow Dash; I'm not afraid of any_thing _or any_pony_."

"Then why don't yeh put yer hooves where yer mouth is?"

"Alright then, let's do it!"

"Alrighty then." Applejack answered with another laugh, moving for the closest apple tree she could reach. "Get to it, Rainbow Dash."

"Ain't nothin' to it." Rainbow Dash laughed, following Applejack's lead. Together, with only the sound of hooves on trees and apples falling into carts and barrels and buckets, the pony duo began to work their way through the western orchards. At the end of the first hour, though she'd certainly never admit such a thing to Rainbow Dash, her friend was proving to be exceptionally talented at dropping the fruit of the Apple Family's labors from the trees that had borne them.

"Okay, so we do we take our break?" Rainbow Dash asked, at last breaking the silence between them and making AJ immediately regret her silent appraisal of her best friend.

"Do what, Sugarcube?"

"Our break." Rainbow Dash asked. "When do we—"

"Rainbow Dash, we've only been workin' fer…not even an hour now."

"THAT LONG?! Come on, AJ, I'm HUNGRY!"

"Rainbow Dash."

"Huh?"

"Yer always hungry."

"That's beside the point."

"That _is _the point."

"Is all you ever do is work?" Rainbow Dash asked whiningly. "Don't you ever, you know, take a break and have some fun?"

"'Course I do; when ma chores are done. Work first, an' _then _play; if all Ah ever did was play, Sweet Apple Acres woulda gone under seasons ago."

Applejack paid her friend's mutterings no more attention as she turned to attack the next tree on her list, a move that would prove to be less than wise.

"Oh yeah, AJ? I bet _I _can make you take a break from all this work." Rainbow Dash sniggered, a mischievous grin again consuming her features as she grabbed an apple from the top of her pile. With Applejack's attention temporarily turned from the cyan Pegasus, Rainbow Dash gently, silently, threw the apple over her friend's head so that it landed against the tree, rolling to a stop just shy of AJ's rear hoof.

"Hey AJ, you missed one."

"Do what, Rainbow Dash?"

"You missed an apple, there at your back hoof."

"Ah, okay then; thank yeh kindly, Rainbow." Applejack said appreciatively, frowning as she turned to retrieve the runaway fruit; it wasn't like her to lose an apple when bucking, but then again, she supposed, having somepony else nearby helping her, especially when it was-

Rainbow Dash, looking rather pleased with herself, seized the perfect opportunity she had created. Even as Applejack's head was lowering down to retrieve the fruit by its stem, her friend was jetting forward with astonishing speed that seemed to defy nature (and her injured wing) itself.

"What in t—"

The words coming from the Apple family's star member, however, died off all too soon as Rainbow Dash reared back, freeing her friend's head of the trademark hat.

"Dang nab it, Rainbow Dash, give meh my hat back!"

"Nope." Rainbow Dash laughed, sitting the stolen prize atop her own rainbow-colored mane. "Hahahahahahaha! It's _my _hat now!"

"No it's not, Rainbow Dash, now give it back; I ain't got time ter be foolin' 'round with yeh; we still have over three quarters o' the orchard to buck!"

"Well that's too sad, AJ." Rainbow Dash laughed once more. "Because if you want your hat back, you're gonna have to _make _time."

And with that, not giving her friend any time to further argue on the subject, Rainbow Dash, still sporting her friend's hat, turned tail and shot off like the bolt of lightning that had wounded her.

"Why ya good-fer-nothin' turncoat, just wait 'til I get my hooves on ya!"

Abandoning (against her better judgment) her chores and harvest duties, Applejack turned tail and gave pursuit after her treasonous friend and, subsequently, her stolen hat.

Meanwhile, on the far side of Sweet Apple Acres, three young fillies sat in a small proxy circle, colorfully discussing a litany of plans and ideas that might get them their cutie marks.

"Hey, Ah have an idea." Apple Bloom exploded suddenly, the pink ribbon atop her head bouncing up and down as though mimicking the excitement the young pony was feeling. "We could get our cutie marks in Lumberjacking!"

"Lumber-whating?" Scootaloo asked, clearly confused, as evident by the look on her face.

"Lumberjacking."

"Ummm…Apple Bloom."

"Yes, Sweetie Belle?"

"Do you even know what Lumberjacking is?"

"Ummm…not really, no."

"Oooooh! Ooooooh! I know, I know!" Scootaloo added suddenly, her small wings fluttering rapidly to bring her into a hovering position.

"What is it, Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom asked, ready to hear what had her friend so excited.

"LION TAMERS!"

"Ummm…she's jokin', right?"

"She has to be." Sweetie Belle concurred, eyeing her friend with skepticism. "We want to get cutie marks that help us show up Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, not turn us into Pony Pork Chops. I—oohhhhh I know!" Sweetie Belle screamed suddenly, jumping up and down. "We could learn to become seamstresses!"

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom agreed, joining in her friend's celebration. "Yer sister could totally teach us!"

"Ummm…Sweetie Belle?"

"Yes, Scootaloo?"

"Not to rain on your parade or anything, but didn't you say the last time Rarity looked at a dress you made she got sick?"

"Well, yeah, but—"

"For _three _days?" The young Pegasus asked pointedly, forcing both girls back to the floor of the clubhouse.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Sweetie Belle surrendered with a heavy sigh. In defeated silence, none of the girls spoke as they continued to brain storm on new ideas that might help them discover their special talents and thus award them with their cutie marks.

"AH'VE GOT IT!" Apple Bloom shouted once more, almost half an hour later. "It's the ultimate idea, and it _can't _fail!"

"What, what is it?" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo asked in unison as the trio once again huddled together.

"HIGH DIVING!"

"Are you sure—"

"Of course Ah am!" Apple Bloom answered rapidly, cutting the unicorn off before her question had even completed. "Granny Smith once came close to beating the Equestria High-Diving record!"

"And?"

"And, Granny Smith said she was the only Apple ever to do that." Sweetie Belle explained, dismissing Scootaloo's suspicions. "Which means that, since I'm her grandfilly, it might be time for me—for _us—_to break the Equestria High-Diving Record!"

"I bet Granny Smith could train us!" Sweetie Belle added, all doubts suddenly gone as a smile overtook her muzzle.

"GENIUS!" The other two girls screamed in unison, the trio at last behind the latest cutie mark mission.

"Okay." Apple Bloom took over, their collective mind at last made up. "Let's go; Ah'll talk ta Granny Smith an—"

The young filly's words, however, were cut off abruptly as the sound of stampeding hooves, shouting, and laughter slowly began to fill their ears.

"What in Equestria is _that_?" Apple Bloom asked, following her friends over to the closest window and looking out.

"It—It's Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo shouted happily, as though her life had been completed simply by laying eyes on her idol.

"Hang on." Sweetie Belle interjected. "What's happened to her wing?"

"And what's that on 'er head?" Apple Bloom added.

"I think—hey look, Apple Bloom, it's Applejack—is she—"

"WHAT?!" Apple Bloom shouted. "Why in the pony is ma sister _chasing _Rainbow Dash fer?"

"IT'S HER HAT!" Scootaloo shouted suddenly, pointing towards the fleeing form of the Rainbow Pegasus.

"She's right, Apple Bloom, it _is._"

"Huh?"

"Rainbow Dash is _wearing _your sister's hat!" Sweetie Belle giggled.

"WHAT?!" Apple Bloom screamed, suddenly enraged _and _worried. "Oh no, you guys, this ain't good, not at all."

"Huh?"

"Applejack's had that hat since she was just a little filly, before she could even walk. She won't tell me where it came from, but she's always been really protective of it; she nearly killed Big Macintosh once fer almost throwin' it away. Ah think maybe we-hang on…where's Applejack?"

Looking back out the window, the three fillies watched in silence, looking for any sign of the pony who'd suddenly vanished into thin air. Rainbow Dash, it appeared, had the very same question on her mind as well, for she'd stopped running along the edge of a steep hill and was looking behind and around her for any clue that might lead her find out where her friend had disappeared.

And in that moment, Applejack proved, to both Rainbow Dash and the three fillies watching from afar, that she did, indeed, know the orchards like the back of her hoof. As Rainbow Dash was looking off to her right, down the steep slope of the hill, a golden/yellow blur of fur and skin exploded from Dash's left, slamming into her side and uninjured wing with such force that it sent them both tumbling down the hill and towards a small creek below.

"Wow."

"What is it, Apple Bloom?"

"It's just that in all ma life, I ain't never seen Applejack so…happy."

"HAPPY?!" The other two ponies shouted disbelievingly and simultaneously, looking at their countrified friend as though she might have grown a third eye on a second head.

"Ummm…Apple Bloom, your sister didn't look quite so happy to me."

"Or me." Scootaloo added with a nod.

"Well o' course she didn't; ya'll don't know her like Ah do. I heard her laughing, even though she was pretending to be mad and angry at Rainbow Dash fer stealin' her hat."

"Still, I dunno." Sweetie Belle remained ever distrusting that her friend was on the right track with her theory. Scootaloo, on the other hand, had a smile broader than she'd ever before known.

"I'm with Apple Bloom; Rainbow Dash never acts like that around anypony else-"

"THAT'S IT!" Apple Bloom once again screamed, as though she'd just discovered the greatest secret in all of Equestria.

"What's it, exactly?" The young, white unicorn asked uncertainly.

"Forget high diving; I know exactly what'll earn us our cutie marks."

"Oh no—" Sweetie Belle moaned, acting like she could physically see the wheels turning in Apple Blooms head.

"We're gonna be—"

"MATCH-MAKING PONIES!" Scootaloo joined in, every bit as excited as Apple Bloom.

"Sorry to burst your bubbles, girls, but we've tried that one already, remember?"

"Yeah, but we did that all wrong."

"Yeah." Apple Bloom added. "This time we won't use any fancy spells or ridiculous magic—"

"Hey!" Sweetie Belle protested, downright offended by Apple Bloom's choice of words.

"This time we'll do it right!"

"Is that even possible?"

"Of course it—"

"Hang on." Sweetie Belle commanded firmly, at last silencing her friends. "Just _who _are you talking about getting together?"

"Applejack!" Apple Bloom said happily.

"And?"

"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo finished, both fillies smiling as the baby sister of Rarity just stood there, eyes wide and unbelieving.

"You have to be joking—"

"Think about it, Sweetie Belle: Applejack does nothing but work, unless she's with her friends—"

"And Rainbow Dash acts like she's going somewhere but never knows where."

"So?"

"So-so, they need their special somepony, an' their special somepony is hidin' right in plain sight!"

"That's good and all," Sweetie Belle countered. "But do you remember Miss Cheerilee? Big Macintosh? Remember how well _that _went?"

"Yeah, but this time, we won't use a love potion or anything."

"Then _how _do you plan on making this work?"

"Easy; Ah say we work with what we got."

"Which is?"

"Our brains!"

"What's the matter, Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom asked. "Don't you wanna help us make our sisters happy?"

"Well yeah, but-hang on, Rainbow Dash isn't Scootaloo's sister."

"Not yet." The yellow/pink Pegasus countered roguishly, as though she had a plan to fix that truth.

"Look girls, I would love to make Applejack and Rainbow Dash happy, but what if we mess it up again? I mean, look at our track record."

"Yeah, but if we spend time focusin' on our past failures, Ah reckon we'll never have room fer our future accomplishments."

"Huh?"

"I don't know; it's somethin' fancy Applejack likes mutterin' to me when I feel bad."

"I suppose you have a plan, then?"

"As a matter o' fact, Ah do." Apple Bloom said, smiling as she outlined her ideas to help improve her sister's romantic life.

Applejack, meanwhile, found her eyes snapping open as she and Rainbow Dash at last landed with a hard _THUD!_ Looking around and quickly taking stock of her situation, AJ found herself sprawled out on top of the cyan Pegasus, her hat now lying discarded and abandoned only inches away.

"Heh, gotcha, Rainbow Dash. Now, if you'll be excusin' me, Ah think Ah'll take ma hat back now, thank yeh kindly."

Still chuckling, she reached over and grabbed her trademark apparel, placing a free hoof in it and tossing it effortlessly back on top of her head before placing her front hooves back onto Rainbow Dash's front hooves. Then, with her flying friend right where she wanted her, Applejack leaned forward, Dash unable to anything but look up at her.

"Pinned yeh, Sugarcube."

Rainbow Dash, it appeared, had yet to haul up the white flag. As though taking AJ's declaration of victory as a personal challenge and still sporting an injured wing, Rainbow Dash, somehow, managed to reverse the situation, rolling Applejack over onto her back so that the cyan pony was on top. Unfortunately, momentum had other plans: three seconds later, they'd stopped moving, and Applejack, once more, was perched proudly atop her friend.

"Heh-heh; pinned yeh again, Rainbow Dash."

Neither mare spoke, then, but instead, for the first time in either pony's life, they each found themselves paralyzed, frozen and unable to move or even think. Instead, Applejack found herself caught up in the her friend's maroon eyes, her mind shutting down and evacuating all thoughts as those eyes, and the pony to whom they belonged. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, found herself utterly lost and abandoned amidst a sea of glistening emerald. Even with their faces only centimeters apart, neither pony could back off or turn away, as though they were forcibly being drawn towards one another.

"Applejack—"

"Ah—Ah'm sorry Rainbow Dash, but I—"

"Are you—"

"No." She answered automatically, not wanting to lose the best view she could ever remember.

"Ummm…AJ?"

"Y-yeah?" She answered, her voice suddenly going hoarse, suddenly very aware of how much closer their faces and muzzles had grown.

"Can you mover your back hoof? Heh…it's…ummm—"

"I—oh my-Ah'm sorry, sugarcube." AJ stammered, realizing just what her friend was talking about as she jumped up and off of her friend, her facing burning as though a hot apple pie had just hit her.

"Yeah—it's been real, AJ, but I-ummm…I have weather stuff I need to-stuff. Yeah…later AJ!" She shouted, taking off across the stream and disappearing from sight only seconds later.

"By Celestia." Applejack moaned. "What have Ah done?!"

* * *

**And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the first Chapter. Please, _please_, tell me what you thought: reviews of any kind are most welcome, so be honest. Until next time, folks, and thank you for reading my work.**


	2. Chapter II: A New Horizon

**So, apologies for the delay in updates, but, here it is, the second chapter of _Eye of the Storm_. Now, in regards to last week's Season 4 Finale, this takes place between _Equestria Games _and _Twilight's Kingdom_, so the Season 4 finale has yet to occur in this story, but will be heavily key to the sequel. So, just wait and see. **

**Also, amazing shout out and thanks to the love of my life, my future wife, the most amazing, best friend I've ever known...my own little Applejack. **

**And no, Hasbro owns _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, _not me. Now enjoy.**

* * *

**ADDITIONAL STORIES BY **Guardian Kitch**:**

_**Complications **_**(an Appledash story)**

_**Star Wars: Jedi Wasteland**_

_**Gates of Terabithia**_

_**How Can I Help You To Say Goodbye?**_

_**Attack of Team Aqua**_

_**Always in Motion, The Future Is**_

* * *

_**Chapter II: A New Horizon**_

[**Location: **Train, en route to Ponyville]

It was dark as the cool wind howled powerfully across the lush landscape of the forest around him. It was, he admitted almost happily, rather beautiful, in a gothic-pony-sort-of-way. Very much late into the day, a full moon was rising lazily, brightly, on the far horizon, hiding behind thin, cold clouds as it dimly illuminated the dying trees of Equestria below. As Storm looked up from where he was comfortably lying down, he felt a particularly strong breeze blowing through his mane as it carried the sound of a faraway owl hooting contently. Content with everything, he bent down and gently, lightly buried his muzzle into pile of leaves below him, inhaling the intoxicating scent of dead leaves in the fall. It was all so real, so perfect, so picturesque. Of course, he added bitterly, it was all very much fake.

"Thou art troubled, Storm Ryder."

Storm snorted.

"Luna, you're pretty much the only pony I talk to anymore, aside from Princess Celestia; must you be so formal?" He asked, not looking up as the shadowy, winged figure descended from the climbing moon. "And besides," He added as an afterthought. "I'm _always _troubled: haven't you learned that by now?"

"And yet, on this day, a sea of anger, resentment, rage, and fear are festering inside of you like a grievous infection."

"Sorry." He muttered. "Most ponies tend not to take well to being banished from their home, ya know?"

"Interesting choice of terms." She answered mildly, and though most might assume her voice held neutral sarcasm, Storm knew the Dark Princess of the Night to know he'd struck a nerve.

"I'm sorry, Luna, I—"

Princess Luna, however, had turned and was gliding silently back into the moon, leaving a frustrated Storm to sigh.

"I didn't mean to-what the hay?" He asked, stopping mid-sentence as, out of thin air, a set of glowing, clear-light stairs materialized before him, leading directly into the cloud-obscured moon.

"Well alright then; but you know, if you wanted me to follow you, why didn't you say so!?" He shouted after the Alicorn's retreating form, climbing to his feet before beginning the trot up the sleek set of stairs, silently laughing at what anypony who saw this scene might think.

With the bright, dull-orange moon now looming directly in front of him, the glowing stairs below disappeared something as the world around him began to fizzle into black nothingness, which, in turn, lasted several long moments before a new, completely alternate realm materialized, looking, he noticed with mild surprise, much like what his parents had once described the time vortex as looking like.

When at last everything came back into focus, though, the young stallion found himself standing off to the side of a large, grandiose throne room, with dual thrones sitting atop the end of an equally-twin pair of stairs that served to elevate the thrones above the rest of the room. Studying his new surroundings, Storm found himself admiring the double seats, the left of which was dark blue, shaped as though the seat's back was a dark black-and-blue flame pointing up at a banner of the same color, while the throne to his right was colored in bright yellows and oranges that seemed to offset its sibling.

"I have a feeling we're not in Ponyville anymore, Todo." He chuckled, still studying this new place. "Or Canterlot, for that matter."

"We are not." Luna answered simply, coming up on the pony's right flank.

"Again, it's _kinda _obvious. But, of course, that begs the question of—"

"You are angry and upset that, to use your own words, my sister banished you."

"I—"

"If you want to see my sister's brand of banishment, then watch." The Princess of the Night instructed simply.

"But, Luna, I—"

"_NOT _another step!"

No. It was impossible. This voice, this impossible mare, caught Storms attention with such compelling intent that he jerked his head back around towards the thrones, the force of it feeling as though he might have snapped his neck's spine in two.

"Wha—NO WAY!" He gasped with a shout as Luna stepped out from behind the blue throne on the left. "But then," He continued, switching from the second Luna back to the first. "That means—no: Princess Celestia said it wasn's—"

"Did you _really _expect me to sit idly by while _they _all basked in your _precious _light?" Luna asked angrily, each word she spoke dripping deathly venom with equally-lethal consequences, her blue cerulean eyes now possessed of a cold, roaring inferno of hatred and rage as she trotted up the balcony sitting above the two thrones.

"There can only be one Princess in Equestria, and that Princess," She concluding, rearing up on her hind legs in an unmistakable sign of commanding challenge. "Will be _ME!"_

As the younger princess concluded her demanding sentence, her eyes suddenly glowing with a white-hot, all-consuming power, she dropped her front hooves down. Immediately, as though serving at the beckoning of her command, a crack began splitting itself up the balcony and wall behind her, as though serving to split the twin thrones and banners in the same way the royal family was now being separated. Silently, mortally transfixed, as though nothing else in the existence of time and space had ever mattered, Storm watched as that growing crack at last reached the painted, stained glass above Luna's head: when finally that glass shattered, Storm Ryder almost felt his own hearts shatter in silent echo.

He blinked rapidly and shielded his eyes with a hoof as bright, blinding sunlight came spilling in through the open fissure, illuminating the occupants within the throne room. Luna and Storm stood in place, continuing to observe as the other Luna began to hover in the air, standing on her hind legs and her front hooves reached, spread wide into the air. Her horn, long and beautiful, began to glow with a white-blue aura, and, moments later, behind the dark mare, the moon began to climb.

"No, she's not—"

Once more, Storm failed to finish his sentence. Instead, his words were silenced as the moon finally clicked into place, now blotting out the brighter sun as dark rays of crimson and black shot down to the world below.

Stunned, his brain struggling to comprehend what it was he was seeing, the young pony watched as swirling ribbons of dark energy began warping around the darkening princess. Yet, even though she seemed to be getting what she wanted, Storm could see the fear and trepidation in the other pony's eyes, the uncertainty and even, to his bewilderment, regret. Luna, however, never acted on these feelings. Instead, as though she'd lost control, she was helplessly absorbed as that dark energy transfigured into a glowing orb, a miniature star, of red and orange energy that surrounding a grey-and-white core, which in turn had enveloped the princess. The core then exploded yellow briefly, before the entire orb was covered by a dark shadow that completely consumed it. That darkest of black then lightened into a too-familiar shade of blue, and then, with that complete, the orb dissipated, revealing the shadowy silhouette of a much-larger Alicorn.

This Alicorn, Storm realized moments later, was, in fact, Princess Luna—no. No. It was _not _princess Luna, he reprimanded himself sharply as her violet eyelids snapped open. Her beautiful cerulean-blue eyes morphed into a lighter sky blue color as her irises reduced themselves to black slits, her teeth now separating as they grew significantly further apart and much longer, each ending in a deadly point.

"No." Storm murmured, feeling lost as he watched the scene unfold. "This—it's—" He mumbled, staggering back. "Luna, this is the day you fell, this is the day you embraced the Dark Side: this is the day you became _Nightmare Moon_!"

Luna said nothing but instead simply nodded as the pair continued to watch the memory/flashback play out. Nightmare Moon, now fully engulfed in her darkness, proceeded to fire a powerful beam of cerulean energy from her horn, the resulting beam now imbued with violet crackles of lightning-like power as it lashed out hatefully across the room, first smashing into a statue of an alicorn that, Storm noted distantly, looked extraordinarily like Princess Celestia before continuing its path of destruction up the wall and across the high ceiling above until it suddenly stopped, focusing the power of her magic into one spot before, seconds later, the stone gave way, collapsing to the center of the throne room.

It was at this moment that a jumble of emotions and feelings leapt up into his chest, sending both his hearts slamming rapidly into his ribs. Celestia, Luna's older sister and unquestioned ruler of Equestria came trotting slowly into the room, staring sternly and commandingly in the direction of her fallen sister, patiently waiting for the smoke and dust to clear. Almost immediately, in direct challenge to Celestia's sudden presence, Luna trotted forward as well, her hooves _clacking _against the floor as the smoke parted around her. The albino mare, exchanging no words with her sibling, fluttered into the air, looking down upon her sister as she moved. As silent as the larger princess, Nightmare Moon again opened fire with that same beam of evil magic, only for Celestia to wait until the last moment before sidestepping the attack, allowing the assault to instead slam back into the ceiling, a hard gash-of-a-hole now carved into the top of the throne room, permitting the nightmarish moon to shine coldly into the building below.

Celestia, perhaps now appreciating the severity of her sister's rage, dropped back to the floor, her wings stretched out and up behind her, the full sense of majestic power radiating off of her in such a way that Storm, who was technically not even there, could sense it.

"Luna," He said suddenly, a new, frightening thought now slamming into his mind. "This can't be easy for you to watch; we don't—"

"We do." She answered in her typically-curt manner. "My past _is _painful, yes, but I choose to use it to teach; I do _not _let the shame of my past and fear of my future shackle me, as you have."

"I—"

"Luna!" Celestia called out, frantic to reclaim the sister she was swiftly losing, her wings folding in against her torso as she began speaking. "I will _not _fight you. You _must _lower the moon; it is your duty!"

"Luna?" The vile mare asked, her tone almost one of mocking. "I am…_NIGHTMARE MOON_! I have but one royal duty now; TO DESTROY YOU!"

With those words, Nightmare Moon reared her head back and then slammed it forward, her heftiest attack yet roaring forward, an express of dangerous destruction aimed squarely for the now-defending Princess of Equestria. With the speed and regal grace of her kind, Celestia's wings spread out once more before the mare jetted up and away from the engagement, taking her leave through the ceiling's hole Nightmare Moon had created moments before. The dark pony of the night, in response, spread her own black wings, preparing to give pursuit.

"And _where _do you think you're going?"

That question now exposed, Nightmare Moon was gone, flying through the hole as she gave chase to her fleeing monarch. Before he got the opportunity to ask the real Luna about what he was supposed to do next, she simply stomped her hoof, causing the scene to dissipate immediately, and, when they had yet again stabilized, he found himself now standing in midair, with no visible support, looking down on the scene below as Luna continued pursuing the retreating, zig-zagging form of Princess Celestia.

Silent, unable to believe what he was witnessing, Storm simply stood there, motionless and observant as the past memory of Luna pressed her assault against Luna, her attacks missing and slamming into the castle, sending chunks of stone and shards of glass flying in every direction. He waited, anticipating the moment when at last Celestia would halt her retreat and return fire against her adversary. After all, everypony in Equestria knew the ancient Pony's Tale of how Princess Celestia had banished the evil Nightmare Moon, formerly her own sister, to the moon as punishment for her crimes, so that the land of ponies would be free of eternal night. Yet, somehow, a part of the young stallion had never expected to literally watch that Mare's Tale as it was being etched against the vortex of time and space itself.

The pursuit still ongoing, Celestia dodged yet another attack before barreling below an arched bridge, Nightmare Moon's powerful blast reducing it to rubble and causing it to collapse to the ground below. His hearts now racing in perfect tandem, Storm suddenly got the feeling that the chase was soon to be concluded.

He was right. Looking as though she might dive for the ground, Celestia instead climbed suddenly, making for the sky above. Her sister, however, had anticipated this exact movement: her next attack found its mark, striking into Celestia with the force of death itself as it connected with her chest, just below the gold collar that separated her breast from her neck. Time itself then came to a grinding halt as Storm forgot all about the flashback nature of the scene around him, forgetting, too, that he could do nothing to intervene. Indeed, only one thought was in his mind now.

"PRINCESS CELESTIA!"

Storm, however, found himself being restrained as Luna firmly planted a hoofed leg in front of the young stallion, halting him dead in his tracks and ensuring he didn't attempt to follow his stricken mentor.

His mind now exploding in a billion different directions under the impact of what he was witnessing, with Nightmare Moon's maniacal laughter drilling through his ears, Storm stood there with Luna, wondering if maybe, just maybe, history and the Old Pony's Tales had gotten it wrong, if somehow, someway, Nightmare Moon had defeated Celestia after all…

No. Just as his mind had prepared to accept this possibility, his hearts again leapt into his throat as a bright orb of rainbow-colored light began to illuminate the destroyed castle's broken innards, slowly rising up and up until at last they'd cleared the hole Nightmare Moon had created. And, to Storm's immense relief, standing tall and proud, at the core of that orb, was none other than Princess Celestia herself. Yet, his smile and relief soon gave to a frowning trepidation. Something was amiss.

Now level with her now-evil sister once more, Celestia stood where she was in the cold, dark sky, the ribbon of rainbow energy screaming around her body in a faster-than-could-be-comprehended arch.

"What—"

His inquiry fell silent, however, as he realized Nightmare Moon was once more on the move. Anticipating another royal attack, a shadow of white energy flared up around her hooves as her eyes once again went pure white. Celestia, on the other hand, was now surrounded by a bubble of pink and white energy, six gemstone-like _things _circling in front of-no, that wasn't right, either. Five of the six gemstone-like _things _were circling in front of her, with the sixth, a six-sided star with the vertical points longer than the other, hovering motionlessly, centered directly in front of the other five.

"Wait—I recognize those, but—no, can't be: they're just an Old Mare's Tale, an ancient paleopony myth. Hang on, Luna, are those—"

Before his latest question could be completed, however, Luna once again attacked, that same lethal blast of energy rocketing forward from her horn. At that exact same instant in time, then, a beam of light shot from each of the five smaller stones in front of Celestia, each connecting perfectly with the six. Making yet another mental note, Storm was unable to help but notice the flood of tears freely flowing down Celestia's face and muzzle, as though she'd resigned herself to destroying her sister. With these beams, then, ranging from pink to orange to yellow to blue to purple in color, now focusing into the larger crystal, a much larger beam of gold energy, backed by a full rainbow blast, exploded forth from the Princess of Equestrian Kind, charging forward valiantly to meet Luna's latest challenge.

Immediately, it was clear as to who would claim victory: despite her dark power, Nightmare Moon simply couldn't contend to the rainbow wrapped in golden energy, and, judging by the look of terror in her eyes, Luna, now Nightmare Moon, knew this as well.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Luna bellowed helplessly as her sister's power at last engulfed her in a full-on conflagration, reducing the rebellious princess to tattered black silhouette before she disappeared within it completely.

That beam, then, now carrying the defeated Nightmare Moon, jetted upwards through the atmosphere, not stopping until at last it collided with the moon its victim had held so dear. This, Storm knew, meant only one thing as an alicorn's features settled over the moon in an explosion of rainbow energy.

"So then, the Ele—"

"My dear sister." Celestia sobbed, still refusing to allow Storm to finish a full sentence. "I am so very sorry; I wish there had been another way. I wish I had been strong enough to save you, and I am sorry I couldn't save you." She wiped her tears, then, with her left hoof as, forcing herself to be strong and brave, she looked up at the moon once more.

"Henceforth, from this day forward, Nightmare Moon, I banish you to the moon you so cherish." She continued firmly, all sorrow suddenly sapped from her voice as the full strength of her royal powers returned once. "Until," She added, her horn glowing yellow once more as, the Elements of Harmony still surrounding her, she began to slowly lower the moon. "Such a day as you can see the beauty in light, when you can at last see, understand, _and _accept the magic that is love and friendship, you will remain imprisoned as the Mare in the Moon."

And then a single, final tear fell from Celestia's eye as the moon at last dipped below the horizon, allowing the glory of the sun to expel itself across the land once more. "Farewell, little sister."

Celestia's tears now mimicking themselves in Storm's eyes, the young pony closed them tightly as he wiped with his hoof to clear the liquid away, his twin hearts now shattered and broken beyond all recognition. To hear the story of Luna's banishment to the moon was one thing, but it was quite another to witness it first-hoof for himself. As his eyes opened, though, he found himself back under that dimly glowing orange moon, right where he'd been when Luna had first arrived.

"Luna, I-I'm sorry." He mumbled, again drying his eyes. "I—I can't—"

"Do not offerest my thy pity." She said briskly, freezing Storm midsentence.

"Huh?"

"As I mentioned before, Storm, I have made peace with my past; I use it, now, to teach myself and everypony else right from wrong, to offer them advice and guidance when I visit their troubled dreams."

"True enough, I suppose." He muttered distractedly. "Still, why show me that?"

"Is it not obvious?" Luna asked. "Your heart is beset by grief and resentment because you feel my sister has banished you from her tutelage and Canterlot itself. I surmised that by showing you my sister's brand of banishment, you would realize this is _not _the case."

"Thanks for the help and all, Luna, but that doesn't really make me feel better. I mean, no offense, but I didn't raise the moon and hold the day hostage; I just failed, like—"

"You are no failure, Storm."

"Yeah, good one Luna. Next I know you'll be telling me the one about the Hippogriff, the Dragon, and the Manticore—"

"I jest with you not, Storm." Luna countered frankly. "You are not a failure—"

"Yeah, I am." He sighed, lowering himself back onto that same pile of damp leaves. "Thanks for the pep talk, your highness, but—"

"You are _not _a failure, Storm." Luna repeated once more. "You have simply given control of yourself over to your fears and uncertainties, and because of this you have lost sight of who you truly are, as did a young mare I once knew."

"So w-what are you saying, that she's sending me to Ponyville so that I can—what, find myself? I mean—"

"My sister is giving you the chance to learn the most important lessons you will ever know. She is giving you the chance to act before it is too late, to help you learn to not be held prisoner by your fears and your uncertainties, as I am here now, helping you to avoid giving into your darker emotions, as I myself once did."

"My darker emotions—Luna, are you suggesting I might become the next Nightmare Moon? Or the next Discord? Or the next—"

"Nopony can predict what the future holds with any real certainty, Storm. This is a fact you should know well, Lord of Time."

"_What_?" Storm asked, time once more freezing to a standstill. "What did you say?"

Luna, however, had disappeared just as quickly as she'd arrived, and Storm, drenched, now, in a cold sweat, awoke with a start.

"Huh?" He asked, panicked as he looked around wildly, his eyes at first failing to register that his compartment was as empty as ever.

"Of course I'm not alright, Handles, use your head, for pony's sake; not like you have a lot of alternatives." He mumbled dismissively, looking out the window now. "They know."

"I don't know." He added after a moment's silence, still looking out the window. "They could know little, but—no, they know; they know everything—I mean everything, Handles. They know I'm not a pony—not _just _a pony." He corrected with a shake of his head, reminding himself that, despite the blood flowing through his veins and twin hearts, he had still been born here in Equestria, making him, as his mother had once explained, as much a pony as anypony else around.

"That's _exactly _what I'm getting at, Handles; they know it, they know _all _of it. They know I'm a Time Lord, they _know _I regenerate when my current physical form reaches its limits. They _know _I have two hearts, they _know _my heritage is the reason I learn magic impossibly easy. They probably even know that I'm on my la—" He cut himself off forcibly before he could finish that thought. For the past year, he'd not spoken aloud the truth that had shattered his life so, the single fact that had sealed his fate. Perhaps, he conceded, his mind secretly held out hope that, if he kept this truth secret, if he did _not _address the issue out loud, then maybe, _just maybe_, it wouldn't prove true; perhaps, at the end of the day, he'd get that eleventh-hour miracle he was so desperate to achieve.

"Don't be silly, Handles: it's unbecoming." Storm dismissed with a sigh. "They might know _way _more about me, including the fact that my physical changes are full-scale regenerations and not me naively tampering with magic, but there's no way they could know about the finer points of Time Lord Physiology and the laws of our regenerations; I reckon that's one secret that _is _safe; for now."

Before he could respond to the stuffed Cyberman's latest retort, however, Storm found himself looking at Ponyville's train station as the vessel itself began to slow to a grinding halt.

"Well, come on, my right-hoof wingmare; if _I _have to meet new ponies, so do you." Storm muttered, getting up as he made ready to disembark. Pulling his two suitcases down off the luggage rack above, he then whipped an old, tattered black saddle bag onto his back before at last jerking Handles out of the satchel around his neck, sitting the old, ragged thing on his back just in front of the bag.

"Well, Handles, you know what they say."

A brief pause.

"Exactly, Handles." He forced a reluctant smile onto his muzzle. "Cowabunga."

The Ponyville Train Station and Depot, as Storm soon discovered, was just a single, well-built building with a large, wooden platform that allowed ponies leaving and boarding easy and safe access. Yet, despite its location just outside of a one-pony, backwater country town, the Time Lord from Canterlot found himself feeling rather impressed by the place's heavy traffic flow.

"Storm Ryder?" A soft feminine voice asked, and, sparkling glitter suddenly imaged against the back of his mind, Storm turned to his left, trotting through the crowd as he—as he-yet again, his brain emptied of all thoughts as he found himself locking eyes with the young mare to whom the voice belong.

"Shut up, Handles." He muttered, studying the violet-bodied alicorn, her dark blue mane offset by a streak of violet and a streak of pink that parted to the left of her horn; a pattern, it appeared, had mimicked itself onto her tail. Her equally-purple eyes, however, were what _truly _caught his attention the most. Those orbs of amethyst, he decided instantly, held a level of beauty and intelligence that could challenge Luna, perhaps even Celestia herself. Slowly stumbling through the crowd, nearly colliding with multiple different ponies in the process, he refused to lose sight of those orbs of violet, as though his entire being, what future he had left, suddenly depended upon them.

"Storm Ryder?" She repeated, but, again, the young stallion yet again ignored her summons, instead continuing to be transfixed by her stare. He could, he determined firmly, remain looking into those eyes, eyes that were, he realized, albeit absently, the first thing in over a year to take his mind off of his current dilemma.

"Ummm—"

"Sorry." He muttered, shaking his head as his brain finally returned itself to command of his body. "Name's Handles." He continued, trying to keep from making a scene, refusing to act like the schoolyard colt he felt like.

"Handles?"

"Ah, don't mind him, he's all show, no bite, I promise." Storm answered, clearly not realizing what he'd done as his luggage collapsed to the ground. "Wait a minute: how'd you know his name?"

"Wow, what's up with this pony?" The light purple dragon riding atop the young mare's back asked.

"You should have to forgive young Lord Ryder." A new voice answered as a large, proud eagle swooped down to perch atop Storm's horn. "My Lord tends to be shy around new ponies."

"IT TALKS?" The other pony and dragon shouted together, the latter falling off of his friend's back.

"It squawks." Storm countered firmly, suddenly returning to his old self. "Terrien, say hello to Princess Twilight Sparkle, and her…dragon…friend…attachment…thing—"

"His name's Spike." Twilight responded, her voice edged with the first rays of defensiveness.

"Right." Storm dismissed. "Terrien, meet Princess Twilight Sparkle and her servant, Spike."

"I'm not her _SERVANT!"_

"He's my assistant!"

The pair of shouts echoed simultaneously, drawing several stares from passer-by ponies.

"Apologies, your highness." Terrien interjected, dropping down to the ground, spreading his wings, and sinking into a bow that Storm was sure would bury his beak into the solid earth below…though, of course, he didn't dare say such a thing aloud.

"Look, I'm sorry, Princess—"

"Please." She interjected. "It's just—Twilight."

"Right then, Twilight. Look, it's been a long day, I'm tired, and emotions are running high, so please, let's start over, huh? I'm Storm, that's Terrien, a royal pain in my tail, no pun intended, and this here's Handles." He finished, his horn now glowing crimson before that same aura surrounded his passenger, lifting the stuffed Cyberman up for all to see. "Just ignore him; I always do—"

"Ummm…Handles?" Twilight asked, her tone now one of unbelieving.

"Hey, he chose the name, not me."

"What _is _it?" Spike asked incredulously.

"Old family heirloom, passed down from my mother, and my grandmare, so on so forth, you get the picture." He explained, knowing too well that they'd not understand if he told them the full truth. "Honestly surprised he's survived all this time."

"Ummm…okaaay." She said uncertainly as Handles flopped back onto his owner's back, Storm's magic now turning its focus to once more lifting his dropped luggage. "Why don't I take you to the museum so you can put your stuff up?"

"Hey now, there's a pony with a plan." Storm smiled, his heart lifting quit suddenly. "Wait, the museum?"

"Yeah…" Twilight said uncertainly as they began to move towards Ponyville proper. "Didn't Princess Celestia tell you?"

"No. No, she didn't."

"She's arranged for you to stay in the old Ponyville Museum of Equestrian History."

"The Ponyville Museum of Equestrian History?" Storm repeated. "Terrien, why does that sound familiar?"

"I have no idea, my lord: I did not even know Ponyville had a museum—"

"Wha—" Spike's words, however, were cut off as his mouth opened wide. Before Storm could ask what was wrong with the young dragon, however, he belched, a plum of green flames erupting forward—bearing, the young stallion was startled to see, a scroll, wrapped in a red ribbon with an all-too-recognizable gold seal.

"Princess Celestia? Wow, Twilight, gotta admit: that's the wei—the most unique delievery system I've ever seen Celestia use. Hmmm…must be a Princess thing." He added quickly as an afterthought as Twilight opened the scroll.

"What's it say, Twilight?" The dragon asked, trying to get a better view of the correspondence.

"Nothing except that the next letter is for…Storm."

"Me?"

"Why me? What'd I do wrong now—I mean," He corrected quickly upon seeing the look on his new mentor's face. "Cool."

As that word left his mouth, Spike belched out a second tongue of green flames, but this scroll looked completely different than its predecessor. As Storm took possession of the letter, he noticed it lacked the ribbon and seal that marked all of Celestia's letters, instead bound by a simple black ribbon. The parchment itself, he noticed acutely, also looked substantially older and more yellowed than the letter Twilight had just received.

"Go on, read it." She nudged gently, causing him to sigh as he wrapped the thing with an aura of red energy, effortlessly untying the ribbon and then unfurling the scroll. Silent, a sudden, powerful sense of trepidation and fear griping his lungs, he began reading the message to himself.

_My dearest Stormy,_

_ If you're reading these words I have so carefully formed, then your father's premonitions have come true and you are, even now, playing the end game. If you are indeed the son of the stallion I so love, you have certainly put all of your efforts and energies into finding a way to counter the curse of our species' greatest gift. As such, I know, even as I etch these words, that you expect me to give you the location of that which you seek, but alas, the hooves that cared for you as a foal must once more disappoint you. Even if I knew where it could be found, you know, as well as I, that I could not disclose such a location to you._

_ Yet, I refuse to sit on my tail and do nothing while you struggle with your newfound mortality; doing so would shatter this old mare's heart. Of course, what mother could possibly sit idly by while her young colt faces the end alone? No, I will give you the one thing any mare would be blessed to provide. It's not what you want, nor is it that which you need. What I am doing, my love, is not solving your crisis, it is not giving you the answers you seek. It is not postponing the onrush of the end, nor is it returning you to our world of origin. No; what I am doing is giving you new life, giving you a single glimmer of hope, and right now, that's exactly what you _don't _have._

_ That's you're gazing upon these words is but all the evidence I need that you have returned home, that my museum, after so many years, so many lifetimes, is once more in our family's hooves. While it is my wildest hope that, one day, you can at last give it the lease on life _it _deserves, to let it be what I could never make it, its greatest purpose now, is to hold my—_our_—gift to you. _

_ In the sublevels of the museum is an ancient Time Lord vault, secured to respond only to a pre-programmed signal in your sonic screwdriver. This vault, honey, holds all the treasures your father and I rescued during our flight from Gallifrey. However, regardless of the gold and ancient technology over which I now grant you custody and guardianship, the greatest of these treasures is a Stasis Cube, one specially designed to activate only via a combination of pony magic and your sonic screwdriver._

_ And so I end this letter with an advice, from a mother mare to her foal, advice that I hope you take to heart, especially if your father's predictions are true. Your—our—existence in this realm: it's not about the years in your life, Stormy; it's about the life in your years._

_ I love you._

Her name, he noticed, was signed in ancient Gallfrey/Time Lord symbols and languages, completely and utterly alien to anyone who _wasn't _a Time Lord. Yet, his eyes now stinging from tears threatening to leak out of his eyes, those symbols and markings were as beautiful and timeless as—

"Terrien." He muttered, carefully rolling the scroll up and gently placing it into the satchel around his neck. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what, sire?"

"The museum: why didn't you tell me that my mother built it?"

"I was not aware—"

"You weren't aware? How were you _not _aware? You've been in my family since—"

"I hatched the day you were born, Lord Storm." Terrien countered, ruffling his feathers importantly. "You know well my nature—"

"Yeah, of course." He dismissed.

"What's his nature?" Spike asked, only for Storm to ignore the inquiry.

"Well, Twilight, we have our answer." Storm asked as the small group again began moving towards the town itself.

"Huh?"

"The museum." Storm explained with a heavy sigh. "Princess Celestia's sending me…she's send me home."

"Home?"

"According to this letter from my mother, yeah." Storm explained. "If I read it right, she built it with her own hooves." He paused, carefully sizing up his new teacher before he proceeded to let lose his next train of thought. "Twilight, Princess Celestia says you're her most faithful student, her greatest pupil; do you ever get the feeling she knows more than she lets on?"

"All the time." Twilight answered with an honest sigh.

"Maybe that's why she's Princess, huh?" Storm laughed, shoving his emotions down to back of his mind. Instead, he put all of his attention onto the Princess of Ponyville as the young mare began showing him all of the town's important locations, from Sugar Cube Corner to Town Hall, from Carousel Boutique to Twilight's own Library, she named off what Storm was sure was every building in Ponyville, explaining unique features or else the importance of each building to the town itself.

At last, though, Storm found himself on the far edge of Ponyville once more, a large building looming just ahead. Looking over his new/old home, he found himself suddenly wishing he could have seen it during its glory days, before he'd been born. The museum was, simply put, grand. A large, square building occupied the direct center, topped by a grand, columned dome. Four slightly smaller buildings surrounded it, representing a different direction, he assumed. Four smaller buildings were then positioned between each of these, a series of halls and corridors connecting each building to create the museum itself.

However, just looking at it, one could also tell that it'd long since been cared for. Countless stones were chipped, giving the walls a jagged, torn appearance. The six columns supporting the entry way, in turn, looked to be shattered and beaten, with vines covering a majority of the building's outer surface.

"Whoa." Spike muttered. "You're actually going to live _here_?"

"I agree with you on this one." Storm confessed. "Place has definitely seen better days, that's for sure."

"Well," Twilight said, moving between the series of pillars as she made for the large twin doors. "I guess we might as well see what the inside looks like."

"Right behind you, Twilight." Spike said, jumping off and trotting happily behind his friend.

"Of course I'm getting a bad feeling about this, Handles: aren't you?"

With a quick flash of Twilight's violet magic, the massive oaken doors swung open with a heavy, near-deafening creak. Without waiting for Storm, both Twilight and her dragon assistant disappeared within the darkened depths.

"Cowabunga." Storm muttered, steeling himself for what he was about to find. His hooves _clacking _against the stone entrance walk, the young stallion followed suit.

Once he was across the threshold, Terrien now perched on his horn once more, Storm gave a flash of his own magic, slamming the doors solidly behind him. Of course, this turned out to be a less-than-smart move, as he suddenly found himself surrounded by total, pitch-black darkness.

"Now Handles, I told you, I _told _you not to shut that door, now didn't I?" He muttered, preparing to use his horn to light the area up.

"Oh, don't worry about it, you silly fillie." A mysterious, bubbly, light, toxically-happy voice laughed.

"What the hay—"

Before he could finish his sentence, however, the lights snapped on with a vengeful return. Even as the light spilled out throughout the museum, then, an explosion of noise, a mixture of cheering, screaming voices and party poppers and noise makers, rendered the young pony deaf. Instantaneously, not knowing what in Equestria was happening, Storm responded the only way he could. His luggage collapsing to the ground as Terrien soared free of his horn and Handles was thrown through the air, Storm dove behind an old, food-laden table, his entire body shaking and shivering as he slammed his hooves onto his head.

"PLEASE! I SURRENDER!"

* * *

"Any luck, Doctor?" The creamy white-colored Earth Pony asked as the light brown stallion at least reached her position.

"No." The pony known as Doctor Whooves responded, looking around as he spoke. "Wherever she's got off to, the TARDIS is well hidden."

"So then, what do we do now?"

"The only thing we can do." Whooves added, the pair now walking through town. "We stay here and keep looking."

"Doctor," Rose continued, pressing the subject. "What happens if we _don't _find the TARDIS?"

"Nah, don't talk like that, Rose; 'course we'll find her."

"But if we don't?"

"Well then, we'd be stuck here. Look on the bright side, though; could be worse."

"True enough, I reckon: we could be cows, or pigs-"

"Or Zygons."

"Zygons?"

"Yeah." The Doctor explained. "Shape-shifting alien from outer space; big red rubbery thing covered in suckers, with venom sacks in the tongue…surprisingly good kissers." He added, causing his companion to stick out her tongue in disgust.

"So then," Roseluck continued, ignoring the mental image now implanted in her mind. "What do we do now?"

"Well, I—"

"Doctor, look!" She shrieked suddenly, raising a hoof at something behind the Time Lord.

"What is—" He cut off, though, as he saw what his young companion was looking at. A young mare, an alicorn he recognized as the newest princess, Twilight Sparkle, was leading a young dragon and a tan stallion through the bustling crowd of Ponyville. However, what had caught their attention wasn't his hovering luggage, the eagle perched on his horn, or his black hair streaked with white. Rather, it was the inanimate passenger he bore on his back.

"Doctor, is that a—"

"Stuffed Cyberman." The Doctor finished simply, taking a much closer look as he slowly moved closer.

"But Doctor, I didn't think humans existed here."

"They don't."

"Then—"

Ignoring the rest of her sentence, Doctor Whooves, as the ponies had taken to calling him, reached behind his tie and withdrew a pair of white rimmed 3D glasses, squinting as he studied the mysterious stallion.

"Oh. I'll be."

"Doctor?"

"No, that can't be."

"Doctor? What can't be?"

"The eagle."

"The eagle?

"It's _not _an eagle."

"Then what is it?"

"Wonder where they're going—"

"The museum."

"The museum?"

"Yeah, the Ponyville Museum of Equestrian Histroy."

"Very interesting. Wonder why."

"A party."

"A party?"

"Yeah." Rose again explained. "I overheard that mare at Sugar Cube Corner talking about a party at the museum to welcome somepony new, the museum's new owner. Why?"

"Very interesting." He repeated.

"Doctor?"

"Rose, did you pack the bananas?"

"The—bananas?"

"Yep." He answered simply, smiling once more as he pulled his colored spectacles off and returning them to whence they came. "We've got a party to attend."

* * *

**And there you have it, folks, the end of Chapter II. So, thoughts? How'd ya'll like the introduction for the Doctor and Rose in their pony forms, Doctor Whooves and Roseluck. Now, to clarify, this is the Tenth Doctor, as played by David Tennant, and occurs approximately half-way through Series Two of the rebooted _Doctor Who_. Could Storm have a small-not-so-small crush on his new teacher? And Terrien's _not _an eagle? Hmmmm...**

**Also, just curious, but who's caught onto Storm's problem and what, exactly, it is? Anyone know? Hint: you'll have to be a current, avid** **Whoovian to recognize it. **

**If you liked it (or if you don't), leave a review and give me your thoughts, tell me how I could make this story even better. Thanks, everypony!**


	3. Chapter III: The Last of the Time Lords

**Hey, everypony, we're back, with the third chapter of _Eye of the Storm. _I would once again like to remind you that this is a _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic/Doctor Who _cross-over. Also, I'd like to thank my wife-to-be for the amazing, vital work she does in helping me with this story. I love you, my own little Applejack.**

**Also, _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic _belongs to Hasbro, and _Doctor Who _to BBC. Now, read along.**

* * *

**ADDITIONAL STORIES BY **Guardian Kitch**:**

_**Complications **_**(an Appledash story)**

_**Star Wars: Jedi Wasteland**_

_**Gates of Terabithia**_

_**How Can I Help You To Say Goodbye?**_

_**Attack of Team Aqua**_

_**Always in Motion, The Future Is**_

* * *

_**Chapter III: The Last of the Time Lords**_

[**Location: **Ponyville Museum of Equestrian History, Ponyville]

"PLEASE! I SURRENDER!"

With that capitulation, that declaration of surrender, the entire museum went as silent as it had been for the past decades, everypony frozen in place as they watched the developing, unusual scene unfold below.

"Wow," Rainbow Dash muttered, suddenly hovering above the frightened stallion. "I think somepony here might have a few nails lose."

"Twilight?" Applejack asked cautiously, causing the alicorn to nod her head as she began moving forward.

"Storm?" She asked cautiously, Rainbow Dash landing to Twilight's left and flanking her, casting Applejack a curious, sideways glance as she did so. Storm, however, remained where he was, shaking and shivering horribly as the trio of mares continued their approach.

"Storm?" Twilight repeated, her concern now beginning to show itself through her worried tone.

"JUST GO!" He shouted rapidly, his shaking and shivering worsening. "TAKE WHAT YOU WANT, TAKE HANDLES IF YOU WANT, JUST GO, LEAVE ME BE—"

The clattering of hoof steps stopped at last, and, though not moving or easing his position, Storm found himself slightly hoping that they had done just that and left, left so that he could continue on with the plans he suddenly couldn't remember.

"Storm, it's just a party, to welcome you to Ponyville." Twilight explained gently, bending down towards the frightened stallion. "Nopony here's going to hurt you, I promise."

As Twilight Sparkle continued speaking, the young Time Lord found his hearts beginning to calm down as their rapid beating began to slow and his terrified shaking began to ebb away.

"I—"

Twilight, clearly expressing her relief that he appeared to be calming down some, placed her hoof on his upper back, an expression she'd likely meant as a friendly "It's gonna be just fine" signal. However, the moment the two ponies connected, all bets were off. Acting as though he was under siege once more, and as though he'd decided to refuse to go down without a fight, he became a sudden blur of motion that was as terrifying to the ponies collected around him as their surprise party had been to him moments previously.

Jumping up, he reared up on his back hoofs, a wild look in his eyes as he now faced his new mentor head-on. Then, reacting as though on pure instinct alone, his right hind leg lashed out, his hoof catching Rainbow Dash square in the muzzle that sent her flying across the room, helpless and stunned. Applejack, proving she was just as quick on the uptake, mimicked his position, her front legs wrapping around Storm as though to contain and stop him from doing any additional damage. However, proving he had plenty of fight left in the tank, he broke the other pony's hold and then flipped her over him and slammed her furiously into the ground.

Even as this happened, however, a flash of rainbow coloring caught his peripheral vision, and, knowing nothing else, he ducked, hunching low to the ground. Almost immediately, a sharp, powerful whistling sound temporarily deafened his ears as a mass of cyan and rainbow streaked above him, screaming in pain as it then slammed into an old, massive skeleton of some ancient super-pony breed made extinct eons ago.

As bone fragments exploded in every direction from Rainbow Dash's crash, both Applejack and Storm jumped up simultaneously. The orange-and-gold mare, realizing, perhaps, the danger they were now all in, began twirling a rope in midair. Closing her eyes and going for broke, she let it go, the lasso tracking right for Storm. However, the Unicorn, seizing his prime chance once more, sidestepped the attack, the lasso instead wrapping around an infuriated Rainbow Dash as she picked herself up from the wreckage of the demolished skeleton. Not yet realizing her mistake, Applejack, feeling the rope catch around somepony's neck, jerked it hard in her direction. Helpless but trying desperately to avoid her _third _crash in only mere minutes, Rainbow Dash went sailing back across the room.

Yet, once again, Applejack was proving just what had made her such a competent, Equestria-class rodeo mare. As the light blue mass that was Rainbow Dash came crashing down on top of her, AJ, having let go of her rope, jumped up and _over _the helpless Pegasus she'd accidently bound. Somersaulting over her friend, Applejack then turned her climb into a descent, her leg stretching out in a perfect martial arts kick that looked to take Storm, who'd turned to face any additional challenges he might be met with, by—well, by Storm.

However, at the last possible moment, Storm's head jerked around, his eyes still wild and crazed as a ball of energy formed at the tip of his horn. Before anypony could speak, before anypony could intervene, a blast of crimson energy, bound by gold energy that swirled around and through it, roared out with the full might of his anger. This blast, then, caught Applejack square in her breast, sending her soaring through the air and crashing into Rainbow Dash, who, once more, had begun the process of picking herself up. Then, his mane frayed and his chest heaving, his hearts and muscles still pounding from the raw, pure adrenaline rushing through his pony body, he swirled, turning onto a now-lone Twilight Sparkle, her horn glowing as a long cylinder appeared suddenly in thin air, surrounded by his magic as its head began emitting a dark gold light, a slight whirring/humming noise now the only sound in the deathly-quiet museum.

"Umm…" Twilight began, unsure of how she should proceed, or what she should say.

"_SOMMMMMMEEEEEE PONY _NEEDS CAKE!" Pinkie Pie shouted, another explosion of streamers and noise makers renting the air and slicing into the thickened silence as she popped into existence between the startled Storm and the light purple mare he now had his device trained on.

"PINKIE PIE!" Twilight shouted. "That's not helping—"

"Huh?" Storm asked, shaking his head as Twilight's sentence went quiet.

"Of _course _it's helping; cake _always _helps." Pinkie Pie challenged with a laugh.

"Pinkie—"

"I apologize for My Lord's drastic actions, your highness." Terrien interrupted, dropping to the floor before Twilight and offering a deep bow yet again. "I fear Lord Storm has had bad experiences when it comes to surprises."

"Oh my goodness." A yellow Pegasus Storm had never seen before gasped in shy excitement. "A _talking _eagle."

"Pardon me, madam?" Terrien asked, turning to face the new pony.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." She apologized just as quickly, taking a step back. "We just don't see many talking eagles, at least, not here in Ponyville."

"Oh no." Terrien responded. "Please tell me you're not somepony planning on cutting me open and dissecting me in some pony laboratory."

"Oh my goodness no." She answered quickly, clearly appalled by such a notion. "I would never harm any animal in such a way."

"I apologize for offending—"

"I—Terrien's right." Storm interjected, at long last finding his voice as he silenced his glowing device and dropped it into the satchel around his neck. "After—yeah, surprises tend to seriously freak me out. I—"

"Surprises freak me out too." Pinkie Pie added happily, the cake still in her hooves. "I get all excited, and then I bounce all over the room, and then I hyperventilate, and then I EAT CAKE! But I don't think I attack other ponies like a Ninja Pony or something."

"I—oh no." Storm breathed apologetically, turning around just in time to watch a recovering Applejack and Rainbow Dash pull themselves free of the former's rope and a pile of broken, ancient bones and boxes. Not knowing what else to do, he trotted over to the beaten mares using his horn's magic to instantly untangle the rope and free them of the debris his attack had caused.

"I-I'm terribly sorry, you two." He stammered, his magic now going into use to reverse the damage he'd caused. "Like I said, after the past few years…well, I've had so many experiences with _bad _surprises that _any_ surprise, of any kind, just totally freaks me out. I—"

"I'll show you!" Rainbow Dash shouted angrily, rocketing forward towards Storm, he took a set of steps back. "Somepony better—"

"Whoa there, Nelly!" Applejack shouted, latching onto the cyan mare's rainbow-colored tail and yanking her back, away from the young Stallion.  
"Let me at 'im. Let me at 'im!"

"Hold yer ponies, Rainbow Dash." Applejack ordered, the party at last getting started around them.

"I—"

"Think nothin' of it, Sugarcube. We didn't stop ta reckon how some pony new might take a surprise like this, especially with it bein' one o' Pinkie's parties."

"Speak for—"

"Ain't that right, _Rainbow Dash_?" Applejack asked pointedly, glaring at her friend until, soon enough, the young Pegasus relented.

"Okay, I _suppose _I can forgive you…_this _time." She answered grudgingly.

"Did I ever mention the time the Princesses Celestia and Luna threw a surprise birthday party for Lord Storm, just last year—"

"Oh no." Storm muttered, turning away from Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack and instead making for the table where Pinkie Pie was dishing out slice after slice of cake, letting Terrien rehash the embarrassing story without him.

"Hey," He asked, reaching the pink mare as she slammed down a massive, three-layer chocolate cake. "Is that boysenberry filling? I like boysenberry."

"Yes sireee Bob!" Pinkie Pie responded happily. "Wanna piece?"

"No, I—I don't think I do."

"WHAT?! But—"

"I want the whole cake."

"You WHAT?!"

"I want the whole cake."

"The _whole _cake?"

"Yup."

"Hmmmm." She mused, studying the new pony carefully. "Care to put your mouth where your muzzle is?"

"Huh?"

Pinkie Pie, in response, bent down below the table, and when she reappeared seconds later, she spread her hooves out, sliding six full-size cakes of varying flavors and types along the table.

"_If _you really want my Super-Duper-Spectacular-Chocolaty-Cake-of-Boysenberry-Awesomeness-That-Makes-Even-Rainbow-Dash-Look-Less-Aweseomer," She said, speaking in a single breath as she pointed to the massive cake on the table behind her. "You have to out-eat _me_."

"You?"

"Yes sireee." She said, bouncing up and down happily, as though excited by the prospect of a cake-eating contest.

"It's Pinkie Pie, right?"

"Sure is."

"Well then, Pinkie Pie," Storm said, a determined grin now forming on his face. "You're toast. You're chocolate, boysenberry…toast."

"Oooooooh." She giggled, again disappearing under the table for several brief seconds. Before Storm could figure out what it was she was doing, however, she'd once again popped up, this time holding two pieces of what looked to be chocolate-toasted bread slathered with boysenberry jam.

"Oh, thank you." He answered as she handed him one of the twin slices. Together, as though doing so was some kind of mutual challenge, the pair downed their respective slice of chocolate toast. Then, after licking the remaining boysenberry off of their mouths, the two ponies continued staring at one another, waiting for the signal to start.

"Ready?"

"Oh yeah." Storm chuckled, refusing to back down, even as several ponies began gathering around to watch the coming contest.

"On three?"

"On three." He agreed.

"Seven. Twenty-Two Thousand Five Hundred and Six. Nine. Eighty-One. Two. Elventy-billion. THREE!"

Storm's mouth opened, but even as the final number of her unorthodox countdown had registered in his mind, his muzzle was snapping closed once more, his eyes now wide, staring disbelieving at what he'd just witnessed. All six cakes, having stood firm and proud were now gone, the platters on which they'd sat now as sparkly and clean as though they'd just been purchased. The young pink mare, in turn, was grinning from ear to ear, her eyes alive with happiness and her entire muzzle covered in a rainbow of sweetened frosting and sprinkles…indeed, there was enough frosting on her mouth to cover a second cake the size of the one they'd competed for.

Bemused laughter, in turn, erupted from the entire museum, even as the cyan Pegasus he'd attacked minutes previously came hovering up next to him.

"You have a _lot _to learn, new pony." Rainbow Dash explained. "_No one _out-eats Pinkie Pie, _especially _when you put a _cake _on the line. And Pinkie, you _really _think that cake's more awesome than _me_?"

"Of course it's not, Dashie: no cake can be more awesome than a best friend."

"Okay, Pinkie wins, yeah." Storm conceded, a mischievous smirk now on his face. "But you forgot, Pinkie; we're playing by Stormy Standardized Rules."

"Stormy Standarized Rules?"

"Yep?"

"What the hay is that?" Rainbow Dash asked, folding her hooves over her chest as she continued floating next to Ponyville's newest resident.

"This." Storm answered. Then, without warning, with no explanation, the young stallion bent his neck forward and, in a move that sent the whole room into a stunned silence yet again, drew his tongue over Pinkie's entire face, not stopping until ever last trace of frosting, until the bare final sprinkle, had disappeared. Even Rainbow Dash, in a sight that just wasn't too common in the small pony town, had been taken aback by such a brazen move, her wings tucking into her side as she collapsed to the floor on her haunches, a simple "Huh?" being the only sound to escape her mouth. Pinkie Pie, in turn, was just standing there, completely frozen and eyes wide open, her hooves planted on her suddenly-clean face.

"Stormy Standardized Rules." Storm explained, not looking around at the collection of astonished faces. "Icing equals double points and is—ummm—and is fair game as long as it's not _in_ somepony's mouth or has been—umm—swallowed." He paused, running his tongue over his own muzzle twice to take in anything he might have missed. "Mhmmmm. Sweet and refreshing."

"You mean the icing, Dear?" A white mare with a purple mane and tale asked as she came up on Storm's left.

"Yeah, that too." He asked, casting an amused wink at Pinkie Pie, who, like Rainbow Dash, crashed backwards onto the ground, frozen stiff by the young stallion's completely random move.

"Heh, Ah reckon yer gonna fit in just fine 'round here, Storm Ryder." Applejack laughed as she joined in. "Ah don't think I ever seen anypony ground both Rainbow Dash _and _Pinkie Pie like that.

"_Ground _me?" Rainbow Dash asked, at last beginning to shake off the surprise that had stormed her. "AJ, he _kissed _her!"

"I did not." Storm defended.

"Did too." Rainbow Dash countered, climbing to her feet.

"Did _not_."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I—"

Before Storm's sentence could egg on the growing argument, however, Pinkie Pie had exploded back up, a gargantuan smile on her face as more party streamers and confetti rained down on top of the gathered ponies.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!"

Huh?" Storm and Rainbow Dash asked together, turning to look over at the pink pony.

"Creative ponies are _always _awesome, Rainbow Dash."

"I—wait, huh—wai—I—bu—what?" Storm asked rapidly, stopping at last to collect his breath.

"Yeah, what he said."

"What she's saying, Rainbow." Twilight explained, joining in on the conversation. "Is that he lost, so instead of being a sore loser, he laughed it off and changed the rules."

"Yeah, well, I—"

"Hey, Applejack!"

"Rarity!"

"Rainbow Dash!"

The three named mares turned behind them as Pinkie Pie slid half of her prized cake to Storm, who, beaming, joined the pink pony in diving into their respective halves.

"What's up, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked as her younger sister came trotting up, flanked on either side by Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

"Can we talk?" Sweetie Belle asked, a suspicious smile on her face.

"About what, Sweetie Belle?"

"Umm…away from everypony else?" Scootaloo asked, saving her horned friend from answering.

"Ah reckon we could do with some fresh air, anyways." Applejack concluded, giving into the wishes of the three younger ponies. With the self-named Cutie Mark Crusaders leading the way, the extended family of ponies exited the museum, leaving the rest of the party to get back into the swing of things without them.

* * *

"Okay, Sweetie Belle." Rarity continued, wrapping a light blue scarf around her neck as she paused, the color of the thing matching her own cutie mark rather well. "What's so important that we had to step outside in this un_sightly_ cold to discuss?"

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash added, jerking a hoof back towards the museum doors. "There's still somepony in there I owe for earlier—"

"We were curious—"

"We just wanted to know—"

"Well, the thing is—"

The three foals went silent as they looked from one to the other, their eyes clear that they were attempting to a consensus about what to say, how to put it, and, most importantly, which of them should be unlucky enough to get to explain it before the three towering females. After over a full minute of silence, though, both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle took a step back, leaving Apple Bloom in front of them, this action making clear their silent decision.

"Well, we were just curious, see."

"Curious about _what_?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Can somepony _please _spill the cake already?"

"CAKE!" Pinkie Pie shouted from inside the museum, receiving a laugh from all six ponies as they each, albeit it temporarily, forgot the discussion on hoof.

"Well, see, thing is, we were curious." Apple Bloom explained.

"Yeah, oddly enough we already got _that _part." The group's eldest Pegasus revealed sarcastically.

"Well, we were wanderin'…what do ya each look fer in yer special somepony?"

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash asked, clearly dumbfounded by the out-of-the-clear-blue question her best friend's sister had posed.

"You know, your special somepony." Scootaloo added, taking, perhaps, a leave of courage from Apple Bloom's asking of their question.

"Now Sugarcube." Applejack asked, kneeling down in front of her sister. "What in the pony would make yeh ask such a question?"

"Well," Sweetie Belle explained, coming in as though a calvalry pony to the rescue. "See, Applejack, Hearth's Warming Eve is just around the corner, and it's supposed to be the second most romantic holiday in Equestria."

"Yeah, right after Hearts and Hooves Day." Scootaloo added.

"So, we were just a'wanderin', what do ya'll look fer in yer special somepony?" As Apple Bloom repeated her question, the three older ponies turned to look at one another, as though trying to decide who should answer the question, and how.

"Umm—"

"Well Ah—"

"It goes like this, pipsqueaks." Rainbow Dash answered, taking the helm quite suddenly, much to the apparent relief of her friends. "_My _special somepony has to be awesome."

"_Awesome_?" Applejack asked with an arched eyebrow, her voice a tone of forced neutrality and calm. "_That's _yer big requirement?"

"Well…yeah." Rainbow responded. "Because I don't want to date some Lame-O. No, my special somepony has to be at _least _twenty percent as awesome as I am, because they _have _to make _me_ look good."

"Oooh! Oooh! What else?" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo asked in unison.

"Well," Rainbow Dash continued, putting a hoof to her chin as though to show she was giving the matter serious thought. "My special somepony also has to be somepony _real_."

"Real?" The younger Pegasus asked.

"What in the pony does _that _mean?" Apple Bloom asked.

"It means exactly that, squirt." Rainbow Dash explained. "They have to be _real_, they have to be _honest_. I won't date anypony I can't trust, because trust is _everything._"

"Yeah, yeah!" Scootaloo egged on happily.

"Anything else, Rainbow Dash?" Apple Bloom added hopefully, eyes wide as she and her friends clearly began taking too much interest in the subject.

Hmmmm…my special somepony has to see and accept me for the pony I am." She added, suddenly going more serious than any of them had ever before heard her sound. "Just because I'm awesome, and cool, and fast—"

"And arrogant?" Applejack added with a chuckle, earning a well-earned glare from her flight-worthy friend.

"Doesn't mean that I don't have my moments of fear and doubt, and when that happens I want somepony with me who can make me feel better about it. However, my special somepony also has to be able to push me to push the envelope."

"Push the envelope?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"That's right." Dash continued. "I want somepony who never stops pushing me to be better than who and what I am today."

"Anything else, Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yeah, there is _one _more thing, I _guess_." Rainbow Dash sighed, going silent as she struggled to put her meaning into words that she could express properly. "I—I want somepony who can hang in with me throughout the whole game, not just the first week, when everything feels all Rainbow-y-and-Butterflies-y."

"The game?" The three young Crusaders asked together in one voice.

"Yeah, you know, _the _game."

"What game?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Love."

"Love?" Apple Bloom asked, clearly dumbfounded. "Love ain't no game…is it?"

"Of course it is, midget." Rainbow Dash laughed. "Love is the one game that two ponies can play and both win."

"Wow." Rarity whispered, not daring to believe what she'd just heard.

"What?" Dash asked defensively. "I read every once in a while?"

"What about you, sis?" Apple Bloom asked, turning to face her sister. "What do _you _look for in _your _special somepony?"

"Ma special somepony?"

"Yeah." Sweetie Belle answered excitedly, as though things were going far better than any of the girls could have dared to hope for.

"Well, Ah reckon Rainbow Dash has a point with what she said."

"Huh?"

"Ma special somepony couldn't just be anypony random either." She explained. "Nope, whichever pony Ah ever dated would have to be trustworthy, see? They'd have ta be loyal."

_"Loyal?" _Scootaloo asked, perhaps a little _too _quickly and excitedly.

"Yep, Ah reckon so, because if Ah can't trust my special somepony then I shouldn't not be with 'em ta begin with. No ma'am, my special somepony has to show me extraordinary loyalty above ever'thing else."

"What else?! What else?!"

"Hold yer apples, girls." Applejack admonished. "Now, where was I? Oh yeah, that's right." She laughed. "Ma special somepony can't be scared ta ger their hooves dirty; ma life is all about hard work, and so I want somepony who can understand an' accept that about me, an' can even get out thar an' work with me. They don't haveta work _as _hard as Ah do," She added quickly. "But the occasional helpin' hoof 'round the orchards would be mighty nice, Ah reckon."

"Anything else?"

"Well, he has ta be somepony who accepts that Ah don't get all frilly like most mares like ta do." She added, throwing a sideways glance at Rarity, who's eyes, in turn, went wide with shock. "And they haveta realize that Ah don't wear my emotions on my hooves for everypony ta see. Ah mean, Ah'm okay with the occasional public display o' affection an' love, that's good an' all, but Ah reckon the real meat of two ponies' relationship should remain batween them, or else it'll lose the specialness of its meanin'."

"Is that even possible?" Scootaloo challenged, receiving a shrug from Applejack.

"Well o' course it is, Sugarcube. Think 'bout it fer a minute; if it was somethin' that was done with or around everypony else, then what would make it special fer your special somepony, or fer you if the hoof's on the other leg? No sireee, the intimate stuff should stay just between the two ponies involved, see, or else it means nothin', and so my special somepony has to understand _an'_ respect that."

"Is that all?" Apple Bloom asked cautiously, as though suddenly afraid to continue with the question-and-answer session.

"Hmmm. Ah don't reckon I'd want somepony who's gonna wait on meh hoof an' hoof, either." She added. "Ma special somepony would have ta understand that I need—I _want_—ta pull ma own weight. Ah don't mind nice things, meaningful lil' gestures ever' once in a while, but no, I don't wanna be waited on hoof and leg."

"What about you, Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked, turning her large, olive-colored eyes on her older sister.

"What about me, dear?"

"Your special somepony!" The three girls shouted together, dead-panning as they answered her question. "What do _you _look for in _your _special somepony."

"Oh, that's easy." Rarity laughed. My special somepony has to be…well, special."

"Wow, really Rarity?" Applejack laughed, joined shortly after by the three young fillies and her cyan best friend.

"Yeah, Rarity: we'd _never _have guessed that your special somepony had to be somepony _special!_ Hahahahahaha, good one."

"Laugh if you must, Rainbow Dash, but I mean exactly what I said." Rarity countered in defense of her words. "My special somepony has to be somepony dashing, able to take my breath away just by looking at me. My special somepony must have a certain… _jenesequa _about him. But! However, I also want somepony who's honorable, noble; he doesn't have to be royalty." She added, not needing to mention the fiasco involving Princess Celestia's nephew, Prince Blueblood. "If there's one thing my friends have taught me, it's that there are greater kinds of honor and nobility than any Prince, Princess, King, or Queen could ever know. He has to have a sense of personal honor and nobility, always doing what _he _feels is right, even if and, perhaps, most especially, when I don't agree; he has to respect me enough to disagree with me, or else it'll just never work out."

"Wow Rarity." Her sister gasped. "I didn't know you could be so…so _deep_."

"Well Sweetie Belle, _darling_; there's so _much _you don't know about me."

"What else ya want in yer special somepony?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Well, he has to be fit enough, I suppose. He doesn't have to be outrageously _muscular, _like Bulking Biceps, but he has to take care of himself and take pride in his appearance, yet he can't be vain ab—"

At this, the five other ponies exploded into laughter that was louder than ever before.

"No offense, Sugarcube, but _yer _the vainest pony Ah ever did see; why, I reckon if I got one o' Twilight's fancy-shmancy dictionaries, yer picture'd be right there next ta the word."

"AJ's right, Rarity." Rainbow Dash laughed. "Saying _your _special somepony can't be vain is like the—"

"Apple calling the cherry red." Applejack finished, both girls still laughing at the latest development from their friend.

"Scoff if you must." Rarity sighed. "But I'm not _vain_, per se; I just recognize and appreciate extravagant and exceptional beauty, both in myself, my work, and everypony and everything else."

"So, honorable, noble, fit, and dashing." Scootaloo summed up. "Anything else?"

"He also has to be dedicated, he has to be diligent."

"Diligent?"

"Oh yes, very much so. I can't date somepony who's going to start something but never finish it. I don't want sompeony like _Applejack_." She added quickly. "No offense, darling."

"None taken, Sugarcube."

"But he does have to complete something once he puts his hooves and his mind to it, and he a little procrastination is fine, everypony does it, of course, but nonetheless, he can't be a lazy nopony."

"Wow, what else?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I reckon what's most important o' all, though—" Applejack began.

"What will make him the most awesomest—"

"His most endearing quality—"

"Is that—"

"No matter what—"

"He can't be too scared—"

"To be himself." The three mares finished in perfect unison, the conversation now obviously over. Taking their leave, the trio known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked from one to the other, the looks on their face as perfectly clear as one of Rarity's mirrors. They'd gone digging for silver, but they'd unearthed pure, unadulterated gold, and now their entire plan was, quite literally, in their hooves, to do with as they pleased.

After the three fillies had gone back inside to enjoy the rest of the party, Rarity had followed suit, leaving Rainbow Dash and Applejack suddenly alone and very awkward; after all, neither pony had been alone with the other since the previous day's series of accidental events.

"Ummm—"

"Sure is a nice party Pinkie threw together, ain't it?"

"Yeah, it's a Pinkie Pie-Classic, alright." Rainbow Dash agreed shakily, as though afraid of what might be right around the corner.

"That Storm character is somethin' else, ain't he?"

"I'm tellin' ya; he's got a couple nails loose upstairs, _that's _for sure."

"So—"

"Umm—"

"Awwww shucks, Dash, Ah'm plum sorry 'bout yesterday—"

"AJ, about yesterday, don't worry about it, I shouldn't—"

Each mare, however, went deathly silent as each realized the other had been about to say almost exactly the same thing.

"Sorry Sugarcube, you go first."

"No, no, I interrupted _you."_

"Look, Rainbow, Ah'm sorry 'bout yesterday; I shouldn'ta been teasin' ya like Ah was—"

"It's okay, AJ." Rainbow Dash interrupted. "I shouldn't have stolen your hat and ran off with it, not while you were working."

"Umm…well, Rainbow, see, thing is, Ah reckon Ah actually kinda enjoy it."

"You _what_?!"

"What Rarity said, earlier; Ah reckon she's got a point."

"_Rarity _had a point?! What in Equestria—"

"The farm's been ma life ever since Ah was just a fillie, even younger than Apple Bloom. It's the only life Ah've ever known, and it means ever'thin' ta me. So it's only natural, I reckon, that Ah put, literally, ever'thin' Ah have inta makin' sure it don't fail."

"Wow, AJ, I don't know—"

"Truth is, Ah _know_ Ah get so caught up in ma work that Ah often forget ta have fun an' just enjoy maself ever once in a while; even when Ah know Ah've been workin' too hard, Ah still don't stop and just relax an' enjoy maself, even though I know I should. So yesterday, when ya stole ma hat, knowin' I would haveta chase ya down ta get it back, I was secretly glad for ya doin' that, because—"

"Hey, Applejack!" Apple Bloom shouted, temporarily poking her ribboned-head out of the doors that were now behind Applejack, who'd not realized how far she'd moved during her brief conversation with her friend. "Is it okay if Ah stay with Sweetie Belle an' Rarity tonight?"

"Uh—yeah, sure, whatever she says, I reckon is right okay with me."

"SHE SAID YES, EVERY PONY!" Apple Bloom screamed as the door shut back behind her, once more leaving the two best friends alone.

"Umm, AJ?"

"What is it?"

"Your hat?"

"What 'bout it?"

"I was just wondering, what's the story behind it?"

"Ah—Ah'm sorry, Dash, Ah can't—"

"It—no, it's okay, Applejack, I understand."

"Ah'm sorry, Ah really am, but that's a part o' ma past I squared away an' turned ma back on years ago."

"It's okay; I guess we _all _have skeletons." Rainbow Dash responded.

"Umm…Dash?"

"Yeah?"

"If'n it's not too much trouble for ya, think we could relax an' have fun together, more often?"

"Are you kidding?" Rainbow Dash asked, her maroon eyes lighting up with delight. "You mean I get to spend more time with my best friend? That's AWESOME!"

"Glad ya like it so much." Applejack chuckled, glad the tension over yesterday seemed to at last be easing.

"I knew ya'd come around to _my _way of thinking."

"Huh?"

"Come on AJ, just admit it."

"Admit what?"

"The truth."

"An' what truth would that be?"

"The obvious truth, of course; we _both _know your hat looked _waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy _more awesome on me that it ever has on you?"

"Oh yeah?" Applejack asked, leaning in to glare at her friend in direct defiance of her words.

"Yeah!" The cyan Pegasus countered, leaning in, refusing to back down.

"Is that so?"

"Of _course _it is."

"Ah—" Before the country pony could finish her sentence, however, the door slammed open and three small, hooved figures went galloping out, paying no attention to anypony around them. The door, however, was quite a different story. With nothing nor nopony there to block its path, it slammed into Applejack's flank with its sudden, unquestionable power, knocking the Earth Pony forward several inches…

And, with no warning, the two friends found their lips colliding with the full force of the combined Magic of Equestria. A wide, vast ocean of emerald found itself mixing with orbs of pure magenta as the Earth and the Heavens at last collided and melded, as though all of creation were, quite suddenly, being thrust into perfect harmony.

It was wrong, albeit accidentally so, and both mares knew this too well. Yet, despite the accidental nature of the gesture, despite the risks of somepony overseeing them, despite—despite _everything_, Applejack felt, for the first time in her life, as though she had not a worry in Equestria.

"Ah—"

Rainbow Dash, never one to shy away from anything, the one pony who, the riskier something was, the more inclined she was to go through with it, a mare unafraid of going for what she wanted, silenced her friend's objections with a nearly-silent "shush"-like sound, bringing her wings up as though to cup her friend's head and pull her ever-deeper into the kiss. And, though she knew the risks well, Applejack suddenly found herself unable to argue.

All of Equestria had melted away, leaving only a collection of stars and constellations that surrounded the two friends at their center. Each of them felt it, felt it with such conviction that it couldn't be denied. It was as though they'd each been working on a giant jigsaw puzzle, spending their entire lives on it, only to have suddenly found that one missing piece hiding right in plain sight, camouflaged perfectly among the rest of the already-assembled pieces. Indeed, with that final piece in place, both puzzles were perfectly, beautifully clear—

Unfortunately, Equestria hadn't _actually _melted away, as an all-too-familiar voice painfully pointed out _far _too soon.

"Applejack, _darling_! Are—Are you and Rainbow Dash _kissing_?!"

As though channeling the power of all six Elements of Harmony combined into one, invisible force-field, that single question blasted the two ponies apart, leaving them helpless as they turned to gaze into the wide, stunned sapphire eyes that belonged to none other than their own Rarity.

Neither pony so much as breathed.

* * *

Several hours later, with the party at long last over, Storm Ryder found himself, quite suddenly, alone in the large, dusty museum, with only Handles and Terrien for company. Of course, alone he might be, but that hardly meant he was bored, or else that he had nothing to do. Indeed, with the party at last having run itself out of steam, the young pony found himself alone, standing in the now-open vaults his mother's letter had mentioned, staring cautiously at a silver, clear stasis cube.

"My Lord; in the future, might I advocate that when you _ogle _a Princess of Equestria you at least put _some _exertion into concealing it?"

"Ah, Prince Terrien, you're home at last!" Storm announced sarcastically, not looking away from stasis cube as he spoke, using his honorific nickname his father had long ago given Terrien. "I was beginning to wonder if you and your new marefriend were gonna elope or something."

"She is not my marefriend, sire. Fluttershy _is_, however, a very intelligent, uncommonly benevolent young mare with the heart and patience of Princess Celestia herself."

"Wow, I'm impressed."

"High praise, My Lord, coming—"

"So, when's the wedding?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"The way you talk, I expect foals any day now."

"Sire, surely you jest. She is a pony, a Pegasus, and I am—"

"I'm pulling your tail feathers, Terrien, relax." Storm at last ceded. "Tell you what; I'll make you a deal."

"Sire?"

"You don't mention the crush I _don't _have on my new _teacher_, and I won't mention the wedding you're _not _having with the Pegasus who _isn't _your marefriend, Guttercry, or whatever her na—"

"Fluttershy, My Lord."

"Yeah, her; sorry Terrien; you _know _I'm dreadfully with remembering other ponies' names. So, deal?"

"Sire, I do believe we have an accord."

"Pleasure doing business with you." Storm mumbled, once more returning his attention to the stasis cube.

"Lord Storm, might I affix my estimation of this subject?"

"Won't even bother saying 'no'; you would regardless. So then, Prince Terrien, what is your valued opinion?"

"Sir, your mother was a wise Time Lord, a member of War Council of Gallifrey—"

"Oddly enough, Terrien, I'm rather familiar with mom's credentials, thanks."

"She was also a highly intellectual and exceedingly wise mare, even years after deciding to remain here in Equestria. She never led you astray in life, so there's no reason to think that'd change in death."

"You make a good point."

"That scroll she bequeathed to you, her sole ch—"

"No, she had one other, but he died when he was just a young colt."

"Her sole _extant _offspring." Terrien corrected. "My Lord, she made it quite clear that whatever is residing in stasis would give you hope, of which you are currently lacking."

"Again, you make an excellent argument."

"So, sire, it only stands for anypony with half a brain to deduce that she would do nothing to harm her offspring, now or ever, especially given he's on his last—"

Terrien went silent as Storm held up a hoof, refusing to hear his plight put into actual terms.

"Apologies, sire."

"You're right, Terrien; that old mare rivaled Celestia with her wisdom and intelligence; she was a true inspiration, and I trust her completely and irreversibly."

"Then what, My Lord, is the obstruction before you?"

"When she—mom was over two millennia old by the time I was born; as a foal, she was at _least _two thousand years my senior. You know that, you know her credentials, both as a Time Lord _and _a Pony, as well as I do."

"Factual words, yes, sir."

"And we both know, Terrien that Time Lords don't survive _that _long, don't reach a position on Gallifrey's War Council, without being cruel to be kind, without learning to take calculated, necessary risks."

"Ah, I believe I understand your current predicament."

"As much as I loved her, Terrien, what she considered safe and helpful and what _I _consider helpful and safe are certainly countless different things." He sighed. "Cowabunga."

"My Lord?"

"I'm running out of options, and I doubt time's much on my side either. No, my hooves' have been forced, and for better or for worse—"

"You're frightened, Lord Storm."

"Do me a favor, huh? Don't go squawking that around."

"Apologies—"

"Yes. To answer your question; I'm very much terrified. Whatever it might be, regardless of its nature, whatever she put in that cube will, with no doubt, change my life, for better or for worse."

"Then, My Lord, as you are so fond of 'squawking'—"

"Cowabunga." Storm finished, nodding his back. "Right then; Terrien, out of the vault."

"Sire?"

"Anything could happen; should I be injured, or worse, get to Princess Twilight and inform her, immediately."

"I—of course, sire, as My Lord wishes."

Once Terrien had flapped his way out of the vault, Storm returned his attention, yet again, to the stasis cube. Closing his eyes, he focused the full array of his magical abilities onto the cube, almost as though to will it to activate. Instantly, in response to the young unicorn's powers, the cube began to levitate, shake, and glow. Opening his eyes, he watched as a bright blue-white light engulfed the secured vaults, a rush of angry winds deafening his ears as the sheer sound forced his hooves to begin clattering on floor below.

Then, quicker than even his advanced mental capacities could follow, the light and rushing air dissipated into nothingness, gone as though they'd never existed. The cube itself had even replaced itself onto the shelf from whence it'd come.

"What the hay—"

His question, however, fell silent as his attention at last fell upon a small form on the floor, a small form that, thirty seconds and one stasis cube prior, had _not _been there.

"No." He breathed, at last comprehending what he was seeing. "No, no, no NO!"

"Sire?"

"She didn't—she _couldn't_—well, technically speaking she _could_, but—NO!"

"Lord Storm, what is it?"

"She didn't send me anything, Terrien."

"Then—"

"She sent me some_pony_, not some_thing_."

"Somepony, sir?"

"Somepony?" The small figure asked, fighting now as it founds its footing. "No—no, that's not right; my name's _definitely_ not somepony. Hmmm—"

"Then what _is _your name, and what in Luna's Crown are you doing in my Stasis Cube?!"

"_Your _stasis cube?" The young pony asked, slowly, jerkily turning towards Storm. "No just hold onto your mane for a minute; that thing's been my home for—wait a minute."

"Excuse me?"

"You're him."

"Him?"

"Him him."

"Him who?"

"You who."

"Who who?"

"Stop being such a silly filly."

"_Who _am I _supposed _to be, then?"

"S—S—Storm Ryder? Hmm—no, that's not—wait, yeah it is."

"How did—wait a—no."

"Huh?"

"She didn't—she—no, surely not."

"Lord Storm?"

"_Lord _Storm? Wow, musta been out of it longer than I thought—"

"Blaze Nightingale."

"Ooooh, you now my name!"

"She did. Even for her, this is—this is pushing the limits of sheer possibility."

"Sire, unambiguously, I am neglecting a major piece of information that got lost from your hoof to mine—"

"The bird has hooves? Wow, this is getting all—"

"Terrien, meet Blaze Nightingale, my _brother_."

"_Brother_? But I was only aware of two—"

"Mhmm. According to mom, when he still a young colt, Blaze contracted a rare disease fatal to anypony who caught it; as I remember it, she called it Cortoliosis."

"Wow, she _actually _went with that one, then; I thought she was pulling my hoof—"

"Evidently, however, she instead placed him in a stasis cube, literally pausing him in a pocket parallel universe while time around him flowed on, and so he comes out, over a decade later, as young as he was then but in a different time stream."

"Wh—"

"I dunno." Storm sighed dejectedly. "None of this makes any sense; yeah, he'll get his own regeneration cycle when he comes of age, but sharing or copying them is literally impossible, so—"

"Maybe if somepony here would shut up for a minute, I could get a word in neigh-wise."

"Come again?"

"The old mare and stallion _did _give me instructions before locking me inside the cube."

"What instructions?"

"She said that I was live my life with you, that it would not only teach me to be a better pony and a true Time Lord, but it would also help you find that which you were in most need of."

"And what do I need most?"

"How the hay should I know?" Blaze asked with a snap. "Not like she gave me _all _the answers."

"Terrific, mom, just terrific! Answer one mystery with an even bigger mystery; shouldn't expect anything else, though, now should I? And a blank flank to boot." He sighed. "Could you not at least have waited until he was a _little _older."

"I—I'm sorry." Blaze muttered, dropping to his haunches. "I just wanted to help—"

"Look, young colt, it's not your fault." Storm sighed, shaking his head. "Whatever her reasons, mom must have had _some _plan, and no matter how frustrated I am over it, it's not right of me to take that out on you, especially as, in your eyes, you've literally skipped ahead ten years or so in the pace of two seconds. It appears, as always, my fate is in her hooves, so, for now, I'll play along."

"I'll do what I can to help, I promise—"

"I'm sure you-"

"Oooh." A new voice exclaimed, immediately changing the complexion of the conversation. "Bigger on the inside. Always love hearing that, never gets old."

Storm spun around, his magic yanking his sonic screwdriver out of the satchel around his neck and taking aim at the newcomer.

"Well would ya look at that?" The brown stallion asked. "I guess that answers that question."

"Doctor," A yellow mare asked, trotting up behind him. "Does that mean he—"

"Yep."

"But—how? I thought you said they all—"

"Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey." The pony she'd referred to as the Doctor answered simply, and then, as though that phrase was an ancient key, something clicked inside his head.

"I've shown you mine; show me yours." Storm commanded, eying the pony suspiciously. In return, accepting his challenge, the other pony reached a hoof below his tie, withdrawing a small, slender device from beyond before aiming it at Storm. Then, together, they activated the two devices, blue meeting red as the _whirring _sounds confirmed what each already knew about the other.

"You're really him, then?"

"Oh no, by Equestria, not this again." Blaze muttered.

"Yep."

"Really? You're really him, _him _him?"

"Yep. 'Fraid so."

"Storm—"

"Blaze, Terrien, of all the old war stories mom and dad ever told me, no single Time Lord was mentioned as much as him."

"But _who_? _Who_ is he?"

"The Time Lord who refused to fight until he suddenly one day regenerated and became the Time Lord with more blood to his name than any other warrior of the war, on either side. Everypony, meet The Doctor."

"The Doctor?"

"That's right."

"Doctor _Who_?"

"Bet you don't get tired of that one either, eh Doctor?"

"Neva." He replied, smiling as his sonic screwdriver disappeared. "Of course, that still leaves us with one mystery."

"And that would be?" Storm asked, dispensing with his own sonic screwdriver.

"What you're doin' here."

"Hmmm…could be because I _live _here."

"And here I thought you were the only cheeky Time Lord." The yellow mare muttered.

"Nah, nah, not what I mean."

"You mean you want to know how not one but _two _Time Lords ended up in Equestria." Blaze explained, coming to stand beside his older brother.

"There ya go, yeah." The Doctor responded, only to pause temporarily. "Though technically there's three of us here, now. Hmm—don't reckon there's been this many Time Lords in one place since—"

"Huh?" Storm asked. "There's only three of us here—"

"Doctor." His companion, as Storm was now convinced that was what she was. "I don't think he knows."

"Don't think I know _what_?"

"Blimey, mate; how long you been here?" She asked with a short laugh.

"All our lives." Storm answered. "We were _born _here."

"Born here? Thought you were too young to have just stumbled in here by accident, yeah, but then—"

"Who were their parents?"

"Yeah, I mean—oh."

"Oh?" She asked.

"Oh indeed."

"Doctor?" The group asked in unison.

"Ah, I see. Of course, that would explain it."

"Explain what?" Came the once-more unified question.

"During the Time War, just a few months before I—" He paused, gesturing with his hooves. "A pair of Time Lords went missing, as did a great deal of priceless Time Lord art and collections. Coincidently, a lot of this stuff is exactly what went missing from the Time Vaults, particularly the Echo Galleries."

"You know?"

"Ah, of course I know!" The brown pony exclaimed, jumping up onto his hind legs as he clapped his front hooves together. "A member of the War Council of Gallifrey and a member of the High Council of Gallifrey go missing, along with half the Time Vaults as the war begins edging closer to Gallifrey; who _wouldn't _notice?"

"Doctor, what _don't _I know?"

He paused as he settled back down onto all four legs, as though contemplating whether or not to share some great secret. Finally, though, he spoke once more.

"The Time Wars, the Last Great Time War, it's over."

"Daleks won?"

"Nope."

"So then, _we _won."

"Nope."

"That makes no sense; as I've heard the stories, it was them or us—"

"They're gone."

"Who's gone? The Daleks?"

"And the Time Lords. And Gallifrey."

Storm felt his breath catch in his chest as his hearts froze solid. "What—"

"I destroyed them, all of them."

"The Daleks _and _the Time Lords?"

"And Gallifrey, yeah."

"Why?"

"I had no choice."

"No choice?"

"It was either lose Gallifrey or watch the universe burn; save one planet or save all of time and creation."

"So, to save the universe, you sacrificed your own home, your family, your race."

"Yep."

"You killed them? _All _of them?" Blaze asked. "Our entire heritage, our way of life, you just destroyed it, just like that? And you call yourself the—"

"BLAZE!" Storm reprimanded sternly, silencing the young colt before his sentence could be completed.

"But—"

"No." Storm mumbled, turning to face the other Time Lord. "No buts. He did what he had to do. He calls himself The Doctor because, on that day, he _was The _Doctor."

"Huh?"

"They universe was dying, Blaze, rotting away from a spreading cancer, so, to save the universe, he removed the cancer via his only method; amputation. Sacrificing the hoof, he saved the body. At the cost of billions, he saved trillions upon trillions, a price that will haunt him across the rest of his life, the rest of his regenerations. Had it been me, I would have done the same thing."

"You can't say that—"

"Yes I can, young colt, because it's who I am, at least, for this regeneration. As Princess Luna has reminded me countless times, the pony I am has a Dark Side waiting to be unleashed; had that been me, and not the Doctor, with the fate of all of creation in my hoof, I would have done the same thing."

"So, what now?" The young mare asked. "Three Time Lords in an alternate parallel universe occupied by Ponies? Wow, sounds like the making of a bad children's—"

"Doctor, why are _you _here?"

"Lost my TARDIS; can't leave without her."

"TARDIS?"

"Time And Relative Dimension In Space: T-A-R-D-I-S." Storm explained. "I'll explain later."

"Oh."

"Surprised though; not even a TARDIS should be capable of breaking through the barriers that divide one realm from another, not if what my dad taught me is true."

"Which means something helped her."

"Maybe the same way my—_our_—parents stumbled into Equestria in their TARDIS."

"Wait. Doctor, if they have a TARDIS—"

"Out of my hooves…umm…"

"Rose." She supplied.

"Right. Sorry, Rose," Storm explained. "Out of my hooves, I'm afraid; I've never actually seen my dad's TARDIS."

"Huh?"

"According to him, it just dematerialized and never returned."

"Interesting."

"Doctor." Storm asked, picking up on the older Time Lord's train-of-thought. "You don't think—"

"I do."

"Think what?" Rose and Blaze asked together.

"A vanished TARDIS, calling for help through an already weak section in the boundaries between dimensions?" Storm explained, raising an eyebrow as the Doctor finished his thought process.

"Not too much to think the two TARDISes combined could do it. Nah, not too much at all."

"Of course, with not one but two TARDISes missing in action, the question is—"

"Where are they?"

"No idea." The Doctor answered.

"Doctor, forgive me, but…how did you know what Storm and I were?"

"Blaze, what—"

"When he came in, he mentioned the vault being 'bigger on the inside', as though he expected to find his race's long-lost technology in the middle of an underground lair in an alternate dimension. He came _looking _for a Time Lord because he knew one was here."

"_Suspected._" The Doctor Corrected. "A Time Lord I _suspected _was here; didn't actually know he was—"

"Doctor, what gave me away?"

"Him, with his raggedy flapping flapper wings." The Doctor answered, jerking his muzzle behind him, to where Terrien had been perched, listening to the entire conversation.

"Terrien? How—"

"Karspungnus Osprey, native only to one world—"

"Gallifrey."

"Yep. Destroyed them when I destroyed Gallifrey."

"That makes no sense—"

"I am most afraid it does, young Lord Blaze." Terrien answered. "I may be the last of my kind, a sad commentary in and of itself, but the laws of my species still stand. I take my form depending on my environment. Since we are here in Equestria, the form of an eagle is my choice of disguise. This ability was actually the inspiration for the Chameleon Circuit aboard the TARDIS, as it were."

"So you recognized him?"

"Yep."

"Wait—hang on—" Storm paused, looking from the Doctor to Terrien and back again. "_Raggedy_?"

"Oh yeah, look at him; on his last wing, he is."

"I see."

"I don't." Both Rose and Blaze answered in unison.

"Apologies, Lord Blaze, Madame Rose. My species and the Time Lords have always held a close bond, the closest any two species can possible know. As such, when a Time Lord regenerates, so too does his bonded Osprey, provided he has one. Our regenerations, our regeneration cycles, are perfectly synced, but we can only regenerate when our Lord does."

"Okay, and? I've seen the Doctor regenerate—"

"Yeah, but Rose, there's something I've _not _told you about my regenerations."

"Do what?"

"A Time Lord's regenerations _aren't _infinite."

"They're not?"

"Nah, 'course they're not." He explained. "We can regenerate twelve times, thirteen faces, thirteen bodies. After the twelfth regeneration, that's that."

"That's it?"

"Yep."

"There's no way to reset it, like put in new bat—"

"Oh yeah, there was, once, but then I destroyed Gallifrey and the Time Lords. Now, well, you get what you get, and that's it."

"Okay, but what's that got to do with—"

"Ospreys regenerate in synchronization with their bonded Time Lord."

"So what, they only get twelve as well?"

"Yep."

"But then—"

The Doctor turned to Storm, bowing his head as he spoke. "You're at the end of your regeneration cycle; only a decade or two old, and you've already regenerated for the twelfth and final time."

Sighing, Storm lowered his head and nodded. Finally, after years of hiding and denying it, it was, at long last, official.

He was one of the last Time Lords, and he would soon be dead.

* * *

**So, took ****me three chapters, but, at last, we know what's wrong with Storm. Hmmm...what's gonna happen next, I wonder. Only one way to find out, ya know. Let me know what you thought and leave me a review.**


End file.
